Splendor In the Grass
by gwrageddnc
Summary: Canon through Season 4, then breaks off. After a horrible experience destroys Caroline, Stefan places a call to Klaus in the hopes that he can compel the memories from her. When Klaus arrives he finds Caroline more broken then he could have ever imagined. Can a 1,000 year old hybrid, who views love as a weakness, open up enough to try and heal the only woman he ever tried to love?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!  
This is a very dark story that deals with the subject of extreme violence and abuse and its aftermath. While it doesn't go into graphic detail about the event itself, the recovery and descriptions of the trauma could affect someone who is familiar with this. Please do not read if this if it is something that will upset you or be a trigger for you.**

**Also, while I have done research on dealing with this sort of subject, I am not a professional and this is a work of fiction. Therefore, I don't claim that the methods of treatment described here are the proper or correct ones. If you have experienced any sort of trauma like this, please seek help and do not use this as any sort of guide.**

**Last, while I appreciate any and all reviews and critical comments, if this subject matter offends you, do us both a favor and just don't read it. For those that do, I promise there will be a light in the dark subject matter and the entire point of this is to show the strength that lies within people and how tragedy can bring together the most unlikely of allies and bring out the humanity in just about anyone. Its also a story of how strong people can be and that they can overcome and triumph over just about anything surrounded by love and support.**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy.  
**

Prologue:

It was a warm late Spring day. Caroline Forbes had just successfully finished her first year of college, she and Elena were finishing packing up their dorm room.

"Jesus Barbie, how much stuff do you have in here?" Damon complained as he eyed up the remaining boxes that he and Tyler were carrying to the car.

"Well, I lived here for almost a whole year Damon. Its all a necessity."

"Really? Five make up kits are a necessity?"

"One is for day, one for evening, one for dressy…."

"Ugh, enough, enough! I shouldn't have asked." Damon said, he looked at Tyler. "You have my sympathies man."

Tyler grinned at him. "Its worth it, especially since you have to unload it all while we head to the beach."

Damon glared at him. "Remind me how I got roped into this again?"

Elena stepped up behind him and kissed him on the cheek. "Because you are a wonderful boyfriend who understood that my best friend needed a getaway."

Damon sighed. "Fine, but we are going to need a getaway after unloading all this."

"We'll work on that, but I need to spend time with Jeremy before he goes off to school."

Caroline zipped her suitcase closed and looked over her packing check list one more time. "I think I have everything for the beach. So the sooner we get the rest of this loaded up, the sooner we can leave." She told Tyler with a grin.

Tyler and Damon picked up several more boxes.

Caroline and Elena exchanged a glance as they left and then burst into laughter. "We did it!" Caroline enthused. "We survived our first year of college and managed to make good grades despite all the drama."

"Drama? What drama?" Elena joked.

"Oh, you know the 2,000 year old vampire drama and the deep dark mystery of your family drama." Caroline teased back. "But it was all in a year's work for us."

"Yeah, I mean, after dealing with the Original Family a 2,000 year old immortal was a piece of cake."

Caroline's smiled faltered for a second and she turned away so Elena wouldn't notice. She would never admit to anyone, even herself, how much the knowledge that Klaus had a baby with Hayley had stung. She hadn't seen or spoken to him since she found out and she didn't plan on it. Not that she was planning on seeing him or speaking to him before she found out. She was happy with Tyler.

"That's right, don't call Silas a vampire." She said lightly.

"I'll just call him dead." Damon's voice called out as he and Tyler returned. Damon wrapped his arms around Elena.

"Have you heard anything from Stefan?" Elena asked lightly.

"I talked to him last week. He was up in Seattle. He's doing pretty good, all things considered." Caroline answered.

Damon nodded. "Any clue if he's going to be ready to talk to us any time soon?"

Caroline smiled sadly. "Soon is a relative term for vampires, remember? He's trying his best, but he needs to be away from all this for a while." Her smiled turned brighter, "And so do we." She told Tyler.

"Well, if you two 'ladies' would help with these last few boxes, then this could be our last trip." Tyler told her.

Caroline sighed. "I don't know? What if we break a nail?"

Elena laughed and then picked up a few boxes. "C'mon Care, as you said the sooner we are packed up…."

"Oh all right." Caroline begrudgingly agreed taking a few more. They followed the boys down the stairs. "Has Jeremy heard anything from Bonnie?" Caroline asked.

"No, he thinks that since we got rid of Silas and got Qetsiyah to destroy the Other Side she has moved on."

"I hope so. I just wish we could talk to her one more time."

"Yeah, me too." Elena sighed. "I never even got to thank her for giving me back my brother."

Caroline leaned closer to Elena, it was impossible to give her a hug with the boxes in both of their arms.

"I'm sure she knows. I'm sure she's watching over us right now."

The two girls headed outside where the boys had managed to load up most of the boxes. Tyler was standing by his car, looking confused. "Ok, I understand how you can collect all that stuff in a year's time, but why do you need all this luggage for ten days at the beach?"

Caroline fake pouted at Tyler. "Why so I can look beautiful, just for you."

Tyler shrugged, while trying to arrange her luggage so they could see out the back window. "I'd be happy if you wore your bikini the whole time."

Caroline rolled her eyes while Damon snorted behind her. "See Barbie, men have simple tastes and less is more."

"Thank you, Damon." Caroline commented dryly.

She turned and looked at Elena. "I'll miss you." She told her.

Elena hugged her tight. "I'll miss you too, but I want you to have fun and relax."

"I plan on it. If you could keep the drama down til we get back…."

Elena pulled away laughing. "How about you stay out of trouble until you get back?"

"Who, ME?" Caroline laughed with her. Then she shot Damon a look. "Take care of her."

"Always." Damon assured her.

Damon and Tyler nodded at each other and then they both climbed in the car. Elena and Caroline had one more brief hug and then followed their boyfriends to the vehicles. Damon took off first, but pulled up beside them and rolled down Elena's window.

"Hey, Malibu Barbie, make sure you put on lots of sun block." Caroline just rolled her eyes.

Tyler laughed and took her hand as they watched the others leave. "We are going to have a great time." He said taking her hand and kissing it.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Caroline enthused.

With that they pulled out.

~.~

None of the vampires present had noticed that they were being watch. Just out of sight around the corner of the building, five vampires sat watching them close.

"Mmmmm, Barbie." One of them said with a grin that showed yellowed teeth in his mouth. He said the words like he could taste them on his tongue.

"I always wanted a Barbie to play with." Another agreed with a dirty laugh.

"Boss said we gots to break 'er." This vampire who appeared to be the oldest when he was turned. "Only rule wuz that she could answer his questions when he got 'ere."

"She look like she's got sum fire to 'er." The youngest looking one said. "Daddy, can I take first crack at her?"

"Sure boy. We wanna ease 'er in." He looked behind him at the fifth vampire who sat on the ground sharpening his knife. "By the time we let your brother at her, she'll tell evrythin she knows."

"Let's get going." The first vampire walked over to where they had parked a large F150 pickup truck. "We gotta get 'Barbie' to her dream house."

"Y'uns remember that "Barbie" song that was out a few years ago?" The youngest one asked as they walked away.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

New Orleans, July 2014

It was a typical New Orleans day, the air was so thick you could almost believe you were breathing in straight water. For humans the heat was oppressive and most took shelter in the cool air conditioned environments.

Klaus Mikaelson stood on a small balcony overlooking his expansive lawn and farther out to the street watching the cars drive by on St. Charles.

It had been a productive year for him. The war against Marcel was coming along nicely. The discovery of Marcel's witch had thrown them back a bit, but it was something Klaus had been working on and he almost had sealed the deal with several covens to link and bind the girl's powers so she would no longer be a threat. While the covens had not liked the idea of working for him, the knowledge that one so powerful was working to keep other witches down had been motivation enough for them to stand up and want to help him.

Hayley had given birth to a healthy baby boy, whom he had named Henrik in honor of his brother. He had made the witches here agree to let him send Hayley and the boy away for their own safety after an attack on his mansion during her delivery. Elijah had gone with them, ever the protector. Elijah liked to pretend that the only interest he had in Haley was the protection of the child, but Klaus knew better. Elijah had feelings for her. His brother always had to fall for the bird in the cage, preferring to see them as innocent victims to Klaus' plans and manipulations. He usually failed to see that there was more to them besides the façade they put before them.

He knew Elijah was disappointed that the baby had not proven to be the miracle cure for what he saw as his brother's shortcomings. Klaus had tried to bond with the child, to evoke some feelings, but aside from the same protectiveness and love he felt for his siblings, he didn't feel the ice around his heart melt, the way Elijah had hoped.

There was only one creature that had ever been able to evoke any true emotion from him and she was a long ways away, both in distance and in availability. He had been spying on her for many months, until Tyler had returned. Then he couldn't bear to hear the reports of how happy and in love they were.

Deliberately turning his mind away from thoughts of Caroline Forbes and Mystic Falls, he instead focused on the thriving city before him, soon all this would be his again. Marcel would be dispatched to the 'Garden' he used to punish his own vampires and Klaus would once again be king. What need did he have for children or family or even the love of a baby vampire when he would have power?

Rebekah was still with him, but he wasn't certain if she was with him because she was loyal or because she was hoping, in the end for a romantic reunion between her and Marcel. However, Marcel was completely captivated with the human bartender, Cami, which for the time being seemed to fuel Bekah more towards revenge.

The ringing of his phone interrupted Klaus' musings. He looked at the number and raised an eyebrow that it was one he recognized. How strange that even the slightest thought of Mystic Falls had one of them calling him. He debated for a moment about not answering, but curiosity got the better of him and he picked it up.

"Stefan Salvatore, to what do I owe the pleasure of a phone call from you?"

"You need to come to Mystic Falls." There was no tone or inflection in his voice. It sounded almost dead. It immediately worried Klaus, but he refused to show it.

"Missing me already? Bored, are you?" He taunted. "Or just need someone to plot against?"

"Klaus, its Caroline. You need to come and you need to come now."

"What's happened to Caroline?" He demanded, suddenly very serious.

"You need to come. She needs you. You need to come now."

"Tell me what's happened." Klaus demanded.

"Not over the phone. I can't." Stefan answered and Klaus heard his voice break as he finished. Klaus didn't say anything for a moment as his mind raced. If she had been bitten by a werewolf, Stefan would have told him outright. Something else must have happened, but what could be so bad that they would call him.

"Please." Stefan spoke again.

"I'll leave now."

"Thank you. We're at the boarding house."

Klaus hung up without another word. He threw open the doors to his office and looked at the servant who he startled with his abrupt actions. "I need to leave for a bit. My sister is in charge. Find her and let her know. I'll call her from the road." With that he didn't even bother to pack any clothes, just headed straight for his car and left for Mystic Falls.

~.~

Klaus made it to Mystic Falls in record time, less than ten hours after Stefan called. Several times he had picked up his phone on the way to call the youngest Salvatore and demand answers, but he didn't. He refused to admit, even to himself that it was out of fear of what he would be told. As he crossed into Mystic Falls, he felt something close to dread creep up. For the past ten hours he refused to contemplate what could be so bad that they would call him, but now all sorts of scenarios ran through his mind. Had something happened to make her turn off her emotions? Was she being held hostage by someone? Was she dead?

He sped through the town breaking his previous speeding record in his rush to get to the Salvatore home. He pulled up and was barely out of the car before Stefan was outside walking towards him.

"What's happened?" He demanded in lieu of a greeting.

Stefan looked very worn and tired. There was hopelessness in his gaze that Klaus had never seen before, not even when he forced him to remain by his side as the Ripper.

Stefan took a deep breath. "You need to try and remain calm. She responds to intense anger and emotions."

"What's happened?!" Klaus demanded again.

"Caroline and Tyler were going to go on a trip to the beach after she got out of school last May. Because of that, at first no one realized anything was wrong. When they didn't come back after two weeks, Liz got worried and found out they never made it to the beach. Damon found a witch through Bonnie's mom and they finally located Caroline. They had been kidnapped." Stefan stopped here, almost afraid to continue.

"Where is she? Have you freed her yet?"

Stefan nodded, trying to figure out if there was an easy way to continue.

"Damon and Liz found her. They had killed Tyler, he found pieces of him. Caroline…." Stefan faltered.

"Tell me!"

"Whatever they did to her, it destroyed her. She is out of her mind. She isn't aware of her surroundings or anything. She is lost inside herself. I was hoping you could compel her, either to forget or just to stop reliving whatever it is that happened to her."

"What did happen to her?" Klaus growled out at him.

"We don't know for sure. We have ideas, but don't know." He sighed heavily. "Klaus, they had her for almost six weeks before Damon found her."

"Does she still have her emotions?" He asked.

"If she didn't, I don't think it would be this bad." Stefan told him.

"Who was responsible?" Klaus asked.

"We aren't sure. There were only a few of them, Damon said. Five of them. They were about our age. He said, by their accents and clothing and the way they were living it seemed like they came out of Appalachia maybe."

"He didn't leave any alive to question them?"

"He expected more of a resistance, and then they were sloppy and went down so easy, he figured that they were just hired thugs, whoever was responsible, wasn't there. Caroline may know, but we can't get anything out of her."

Klaus followed Stefan into the boarding house. In his mind, he couldn't accept what Stefan had told him. He could still remember Caroline at her graduation, her smile as bright as the yellow sundress she had on, her voice teasing him about a mini fridge. He couldn't imagine anything that could take away that smile and light she had.

They entered the living room to find Damon and Elena standing there looking nervous. Damon glared at him as soon as he saw him.

"I'd like to go on record and say this is the worst idea ever. We finally got rid of him and now you are bringing him back." Damon snapped at Stefan.

"Well, I think he can help, Damon." Stefan said through gritted teeth. "At the very least he can't hurt and we can't keep her like this. I think its doing more damage."

"What else can we do Stefan?" Elena spoke. "Every time we leave her alone she attacks us or herself. She isn't giving us much choice here."

Stefan glared at both of them. "This is why I called Klaus, because to me, leaving her there like this, is unacceptable and I'm willing to try anything to help her."

Klaus began to have a very bad feeling. "Where is Caroline?" He growled out. Damon and Elena looked very nervous.

"Go on, tell him." Stefan urged.

"Look, you weren't here, brother. We did the best we could. It's not like we didn't try anything else." Damon tried to explain.

"I wasn't here because YOU didn't call me." Stefan snapped.

Damon opened his mouth to answer, but before he could Klaus flashed across the room. "Where is Caroline?" He whispered, standing in front of Damon threateningly. It was Elena who answered.

"She's downstairs, in the cell." She said quietly.

Klaus flashed out of the room, heading for the cell.

"Klaus, wait!" Stefan called knowing he wasn't prepared for what he was about to see, but it was too late. They followed behind him, but stopped short when they found him standing before the now open door to the cell. He was breathing rapidly and even though they couldn't see his face, they could well imagine the look of horror on it.

Klaus stood there. He saw her. He could see her clearly, but his brain refused to process what he was seeing.

The creature before him bore no resemblance to Caroline Forbes. Hanging there from chains, was a rail thin vampire, covered in dirt and filth. Her hair hung down over her face in greasy lumps. Her nails, that were usually impeccably manicured were jagged claws coming off of her hands. Her clothing was torn and dirty. He could see every bone in her arms and legs. He could hear her mumbling to herself, but even with his hearing he couldn't make out the words.

"She won't feed." Damon's voice came from behind him. "We've tried to force feed her a few times, but she tries to bite and attack us, even in her chains."

Klaus walked across the room and broke the chains holding Caroline. She immediately slumped to the ground, still mumbling.

"Caroline." He whispered, there was no response.

"She can't hear you." Damon spoke again. "She's lost in her own world."

"Caroline." He spoke a bit louder this time and put a finger under her chin. Her eyes were completely unfocused, but he could clearly see the fear in them. There was no sign of the joy that used to live there. She once again didn't answer him, but continued to mumble to herself. He leaned in closer trying to make out what she was saying.

"I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world  
Life in plastic, it's fantastic  
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere  
Imagination, life is your creation"

Klaus backed up quickly. "What is she saying?"

"Its an old song, from when we were kids." Elena answered. "She won't stop. Damon was trying to get through to her and called her 'Barbie' like he always did and she just started."

"If you actually listen to the lyrics, its kind of creepy." Damon commented lightly.

At that Klaus spun around and grabbed Damon by the throat. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU KEPT HER HERE LIKE THIS?" He screamed. "Do you think this is helping her?"

"We didn't know what else to do!" Elena cried. "Her mom doesn't even know what else to do. We didn't have any choice."

"There is always choices, Doppleganger." Klaus hissed. He turned back to Damon. "I should kill you for this." He threatened. Just then the sound of whimpering and the smell of blood came to his senses.

Caroline had curled up into a tight ball in the corner and was digging her ragged dirty nails into the skin of her legs, making deep scratches up them. Klaus released Damon and was in front of Caroline in an instant. He grabbed her hands and held them down at her sides. She immediately resumed her mumbling.

"I'm a blonde bimbo girl, in a fantasy world"

"Caroline, love. Stop now. You're safe."

"This is what happens when you let her out of the chains." Damon croaked from behind him.

"She tries to walk into the sun." Elena continued. "She smashes things, attacks us." She sighed. "We didn't know what else to do."

"They called me a few days ago." Stefan added in. The first he spoke since he came downstairs. "I called you as soon as I realized how deep it went."

Klaus ignored them all, focusing on the feral creature in front of him. She kept her head down and the stench coming off of her almost made him gag, but he refused to back away. He needed to get through to her.

"Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly"

She continued to mumble, and despite himself, Klaus felt fear and disgust course through him. Not disgust at her, but what he began to realize had been done.

"Caroline, please, sweetheart. Its all right. You are safe." He repeated again, trying to break through.

"Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky  
You can touch, you can play, if you say: I'm always yours"

"CAROLINE!" He snapped, becoming more and more creeped out by the song lyrics she kept mumbling. It seemed for a moment as if that worked. She got quiet and froze. He released her hands and sat back waiting to see if she would come around. She slowly stood up and backed up tight against the wall. Like a robot she raised her hands straight above her head and spread her legs. She never once lifted her head.

Behind him, Klaus heard Elena gasp. He stared up at Caroline, horrified. His body started to shake and he felt a scream build up in his chest, while bile threatened to rise up from his stomach. An anguished sound escaped him, but it in no way could contain the horror he felt as the full realization of what had happened hit him.

They had…..

They…..

Blood pounded in his head. Tears filled his eyes as ragged gasps escaped him. Elena was sobbing behind him. Just then Caroline started mumbling again.

"Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please  
I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees"

Stefan's words from earlier came back to him. _'They had her for almost six weeks…..'_

An inarticulate moan of sadness and horror escaped him and before they could even realize he flashed out of the room and was gone from the boarding house.

"Well, that was certainly a lot of help." Damon snapped and moved forward to put Caroline back in her chains.

"He'll be back." Stefan said quietly.

Damon snorted. "I doubt it." He locked her up again and she continued her muttering as if he wasn't there.

"Oh, I'm having so much  
Well Barbie, we're just getting started  
Oh, I love you Ken"

Damon stared at her. "It would be more merciful just to let her go I think."

Stefan moved and grabbed Damon's arm, turning him to face him. "Don't you dare." Stefan growled.

"Stefan, wherever Caroline is in there, she wouldn't want to live like this." Elena spoke.

"I'm not willing to give up on her just yet. She wouldn't give up on either of you!"

Damon broke free of Stefan's grasp. "Whatever, at the rate she's going, she'll starve herself into desiccation soon." With that he and Elena left the room, leaving Caroline hanging there and mumbling to herself.

Stefan just stared at her, praying that Klaus would come back.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Klaus fled. He moved as fast as he could through the boarding house, through the woods and just kept going, but he couldn't escape it. The image of Caroline was burned into his brain and only instinct had him moving around the trees as the only sight in his eyes was her.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of blonde, he slowed and he could see her, she was sitting on a bench the way she had the night Finn died.

"_I'm too smart to be seduced by you."_

He moved closer, knowing it had to be a memory, but drawn all the same. As he approached, she faded and once again, all he could see was the broken creature he had just witnessed. He ran his fist into a tree as hard as he could, but the tree took more damage than his hand did and it didn't relieve the feelings inside of him.

He turned away from the vision before him, to be confronted with another. He opened his eyes and he could see her again, standing before him just like the night she came to ask for a dress for prom. Full of anger towards Elena, but determined to go to her Prom for the night she had dreamt of for so long. Her look of determination turned to horror and the flesh seemed to melt out from under her skin.

His eyes began to turn gold and he raised his head and howled.

He could not do this. He could not have these feelings of helplessness, fear and pain. He couldn't allow her to bring him to his knees. He had things to do, things to accomplish, a city to conquer.

"I CAN'T HELP YOU!" He screamed. "I don't know how."

"_Friendship, stage 1: show me that I can trust you."_

Klaus spun to see another memory sitting there. This time the image slowly started desiccating before his eyes, until it crumbled to dust. He howled again.

When the howl ended he whispered to himself. "I can't help you. I don't know how. I don't know how to do anything but destroy." He threw back his head and a strangled moan came out. When he lowered his head she was there again.

Caroline, stood before him in the blue dress he sent her. _"You don't connect with people because you don't try to understand them."_ His breathing sped up as he knew what would happen next. The Caroline in his mind faded until it was the skeletal vampire in the Salvatore's basement. Klaus rushed forward, but this time the broken creature dissolved into ash. He was left kneeling on the ground holding wet dirt.

"If we knew who did this, I could kill them, torture them and bring you their heads and their privates as payment for your suffering, but I don't know how to bring you back." He begged, half sobbing.

This was worse than the Hunter's Curse. This was worse than Silas. This was a battle he didn't think he could win, the battle with his own mind and his own heartbreak.

For a thousand years, he guarded himself away from these sort of feelings, never developing too much attachment to anything so it couldn't make him weak. But Caroline Forbes had somehow blown through all his defenses and made him care. Physical pain he could handle, but this, emotional pain, made him feel weak, something he couldn't cope with.

"…_which means there is a part of you that is human…."_

She was laying on the ground in front of him the same way she had been lying on that couch.

"What good do these emotions do me, when I can't help you?" He demanded of the vision. "I can't save you."

"_I know that you are in love with me and anybody who is capable of being in love is capable of being saved."_

This time the image faded into Caroline, laying there struggling against someone that Klaus couldn't see, she cried and screamed.

"_Stop, please. Someone help me. NO!" _

With a growl, Klaus launched himself at the image, determined to destroy the attackers that only existed in his mind. He hit a large tree with full force, knocking it to the ground and several others in its path with a loud crash. He let out a frustrated yell.

"What can I do?" He yelled to the sky. "I need to go. I need to leave and forget all about this, forget all about you!"

He heard a laugh. It was Caroline, laughing at him, enjoying his company the way she had the day of their 'date' when he read her Miss Mystic application. "What if you are too far gone and you can't come back?" He whispered, reaching out to her.

He turned his head and there she stood on her graduation day, right after he beheaded one of the dead witches. There was a sparkle in her eyes and smile on her face, just for him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. The helplessness overwhelmed him. In his panic he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He didn't even open his eyes as he pushed a number on speed dial. After a few rings the call was picked up.

"Hello, Brother." He could hear disdain dripping from Elijah's greeting, but he ignored it.

"Elijah, I need your help." He said quickly into the phone.

"Niklaus? What is it? What's happened? Is Rebekah ok?"

"She's fine. I need you to come to Mystic Falls."

"Mystic Falls? What are you doing there?"

"Elijah, I need you to come." He said again. "Please" He uttered through gritted teeth.

There was a long pause. "I will be there tomorrow."

"Thank you." Klaus said and then hung up.

He opened his eyes and hit another number.

This time the call was answered much quicker. "What do think you're doing leaving me here?" Rebekah's voice answered.

"Rebekah, you need to leave now and come to Mystic Falls." He stated.

"Why in the hell would I come there? Is that where you are?" She demanded.

"Rebekah, it was not a request. I need you here."

Rebekah finally seemed to notice the tone of his voice.

"All right." She said slowly. "I'll tie up loose ends here and head up there."

"Thank you."

"Nik, what's…." He hung up before she could say another word.

Klaus looked up and the vision of Caroline at graduation was still there. "I don't know what I'm doing here, love. I don't know that I can help you, but I will try. I will do my best to bring you back. I promise you."

The image of Caroline faded away, this time there was no morphing into the nightmare that existed in the Salvatore's basement.

Klaus took several deep breaths trying to collect himself and his thoughts. His mind still raced with panic and helplessness, but he pushed it down as he tried to think and come up with a plan. First things first, he needed to get her out of that dungeon. He looked around to get his bearings and then took off, in the direction of his mansion.

~.~

The next day Stefan and Liz Forbes were sitting in the living room of the boarding house. Neither was speaking they seemed lost in their own thoughts.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Liz asked softly.

"I believe so, but I can't guarantee it." Stefan answered.

"Oh, he'll be back." Damon said, walking into the room. "His car is still in the driveway, blocking me in. He'll come back for that, at least."

"Damon, it was a shock to him. He probably needed time to process."

Damon snorted. "Please, the Big Bad Hybrid ran away. He couldn't deal and he ran away."

"That could be a sign of how much he cares for her."

"Then where is he, huh? I don't see him here helping to care for her and getting ripped to shreds in the process." Damon held up his arm which had several bite marks in it. "She still won't take the blood bag, but she seems to think I'm her blood bag."

Liz let out a distressed sigh and turned her head away from the sight. Stefan glared at his brother. "That's really helpful."

Damon gave him an incredulous look. "Whether its helpful or not, it is the reality of the situation. What's the plan here? Are we just going to keep her locked up like this, like the fat at the end of Shawn of the Dead?"

Liz let out another noise.

Stefan jumped up. "That's enough Damon!"

"Is it? What is it going to take for you to realize that Caroline is gone and she's not coming back? And even if she could come back to herself, do you really want that for her?" He stared at both of them. "Think about it, really think about it. Do you really want her to live with the memories of what was done to her? What was done to Tyler? What kind of life would she ever have? Do you think that you can get over something like this?"

Elena came in the room, tired and sad. "He's right. I loved Caroline, she was my best friend. But I have to wonder if we aren't cruel keeping her alive like this."

Damon walked around Stefan and knelt down before Liz. "I know you loved your daughter and I'm so sorry this happened. Blondie and I were never the best of friends, but I hate that someone did this to her. But do you really want to keep her like this? Klaus is gone, it doesn't look like he's coming back. As hard as it is, you may have to face the fact that your daughter is gone, Liz and the only thing left to do is to stop her pain."

Liz had tears running down her face at this point.

"Liz, you can't give up on her." Stefan pleaded with the emotionally distraught woman. "She could still come back from this."

"How?" Liz demanded. "I can't care for her. She has even managed to overpower the two of you when she gets really agitated. Can she come back to herself chained up in a dungeon? But we have no other options."

Stefan sighed.

"No mother should ever have to make this choice," Liz sniffled, but her voice took on strength. "But I think Damon may be right."

Just then the door opened, and Klaus appeared in the doorway. He had changed his clothes and looked impeccable and in complete control.

"Damon is not right." He stated calmly. Stefan breathed a sigh of relief and Liz just stared up at him uncomprehending.

"Back again?" Damon snapped.

Klaus completely ignored him and approached Liz. "Sheriff Forbes, I offer myself to your disposal. Anything in my power that I can do to help, I will."

"Can you compel her to forget?" Liz all but begged.

Klaus took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, I can't. Her mind, at this time, is too fractured; there would be nothing for the compulsion to take a hold of. Even if I could take part of the memories away, others would still be in there. The results could push her farther away."

Liz buried her face in her hands. "Then what can be done?" She looked up the tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Well, my first suggestion would be to change her current accommodations. There is a room in my house; Elena spent some time there during her experience with the Hunter's curse. It has every comfort she could want, except for anything she could harm herself with."

"Oh, so you want to lock her up in your house." Damon scoffed. "Then maybe you can take over where her kidnappers left off, making her YOUR little slave."

Klaus spun and was inches from Damon, gold eyes flaring, but just before he reached him, he seemed to stop and gain control over himself he turned back to Liz.

"Sheriff, you are welcome to stay also." He glanced at Stefan. "You and Stefan both. There are rooms on the same floor, you are welcome to them." He shot a death glare at Damon. "I have no interest other than to help Caroline. There are no nefarious reasons for this; I just want to help her."

Liz still looked uncertain; Damon's words had made her doubtful. Stefan spoke up.

"Liz, we have to try. Getting her out of that dungeon could help so much. It may allow her to realize she isn't a captive anymore. She may start to feel safe enough to come back to herself. What's the harm in trying? How is that harder than giving up on her?"

Liz nodded. "All right. You'll stay there with us?" She asked Stefan hesitantly.

"Of course."

"Then let's try." Liz agreed.

Damon stayed quiet, knowing he was outvoted.

Stefan looked to Klaus. "It won't be easy to move her. She gets extremely agitated when we get too close, should we sedate her?"

Klaus shook his head. "Given her level of starvation, she may not be able to come out of it on her own and when she does, it could be more traumatic."

"She's managed to overpower us, when she gets worked up." Stefan stated. "Usually its surprise attacks, but she's surprisingly strong when she wants to be, especially for how malnourished she is."

"That's actually a very good sign. It means there is some survival instinct left inside of her and when she gets extremely frightened, her endorphins must kick in. Similar to those stories you hear of parents lifting cars off of their children." He seemed to think for a moment. "I believe despite that, I will be able to restrain her enough to get her to the house."

Elena spoke up. "Is that really a good idea? Having a male restrain her?"

"Well, I don't imagine it would be any worse than keeping her chained up." Klaus commented dryly. "However, I am much stronger than any of you. Restraining Caroline as she is, should be simple enough without getting too physical with her. I'm not saying she'll go quietly, but I believe by remaining calm and detached, she may be able to sense that its not the same."

"I think we should wait until dark to try and move her. That way we won't take any chances." Stefan said.

"I agree."

Klaus turned his gaze to Liz, it suddenly seemed very sharp. "I need you to understand something." His voice was soft, but there was no mistaking the steel underneath it. "I will not, under any circumstances allow you to put her down. I don't see any situation where that will happen. I will be here and I will help her as long as it takes, but I will NOT allow anyone to entertain the thought of letting her go."

Liz stared at him in shock. When he first arrived he had been calm and collected. Now as she looked in his eyes, she could see the pain in them for what happened to her daughter. However, she could not allow him that blanket statement.

"I'm her mother and if I feel that she is suffering with no hope of recovery, then I don't think I can agree to that." She told him firmly.

Klaus stared at her; she was so much like her daughter. He knelt down so they were on the same level. "You have no idea what I am capable of when I set my mind to something. Ask them." He gestured behind him to the others. "I will bring her back, no matter how long it takes or what I need to. I will NOT allow her to live in suffering."

Liz knew that he meant what he said; he would stop at nothing to bring her back. The thought terrified her, but also stiffened her resolve. By all accounts he was the most powerful creature on the planet and if he was determined to bring Caroline back, she had to believe he could do it. She nodded her agreement.

Klaus stood up and looked to Stefan.

"I spent last night opening up the house. I still need to get some groceries so the Sheriff has something to eat." He looked back at Liz. "Is there any type of food that you prefer, or that you hate?"

She shook her head. "I don't have much of an appetite these days."

"Well, you'll need to change that. I'm certain you will be instrumental in this process and we need you to be strong, not wilting from lack of nourishment." Klaus told her lightly. "So again, I ask, is there anything type of food you prefer, or that you hate?"

"The basics are fine."

Klaus raised an eyebrow at her noncommittal answer, but made no other comment. He turned back to Stefan. "I will go take care of that, while you finish things up here. I'll probably need you to drive my car to my house and I will sit in the back with Caroline." He looked to Liz. "Sheriff, it would be safest if you follow behind us in your car."

"I understand." Liz agreed. "I want to be here though when you move her."

"Of course." Klaus agreed.

Liz sighed. "I've taken a leave of absence from work, but I still go in every day for a few hours to look over the paperwork. It keeps me from thinking too much." Klaus understood that.

Stefan nodded. "If you want to head in now, we'll meet back here at sunset."

Liz stood up to leave. She looked at Klaus uncertainly for a moment, but made no other comment before heading out the door.

There was silence for a few minutes, and then Elena spoke. "Do you really think you can?" Klaus and Stefan looked over at her. "Bring her back?" She clarified.

Klaus wanted to answer with a quick 'yes', but his own doubts made him hold his tongue. Instead he said, "I believe that given the proper environment Caroline will be able to bring herself back."

Elena stared at him. "And do you think she'll be all right once she comes back? Do you think she will thank you for making her face these memories?" She asked.

"I think giving her a choice before putting her down like a wounded animal is a better plan." Klaus growled at her.

"Yes, but then you didn't know her that well, just what you saw in what….two years? I've known her almost her whole life."

Klaus gave her a cold smile. "That's true, except Caroline's 'life' was over. She became a vampire, something she thrived at. You do realize that she is insane right now because she didn't turn off her emotions. She is stronger than you realize and she is much stronger than you." He told her.

At this point, Damon jumped in. "And if she does come back and doesn't want to live? You just told her mother you wouldn't allow her to be put down. So you'll take the choice from her and keep her locked up trying to force her to be happy? You think that you, with all the blood on your hands and all the violence you've committed can make her turn away from this?"

"That's enough." Stefan spoke up saving Klaus from the fact that Damon's words echoed his own doubts. "Klaus is giving her a chance. Something she won't have rotting downstairs. I understand that you are worried about her and don't think she can come back from this, but we want to give her the chance."

"Fine, I'm coming with you." Elena stated.

"No, you are not." Klaus snapped.

"And why don't you want me there?" She demanded.

"Because you don't think she can come back. She needs to be surrounded by optimism and hope, not someone who thinks it's already over."

"Or maybe you just want to alienate her." Damon added.

"I said that's enough!" Stefan all but shouted. "Klaus is right. The fact that both of you think she would be better off if we let her go, will affect her healing. Liz and I will be there, its not like he's locking her in a tower. You two didn't know what to do so you called me and I called the one person who might be able to help us. I'm sorry you don't agree with what we are doing, but this is the way it is."

"I'm going to go finish up loose ends." Klaus said, wanting to remove himself before he wound up killing Elena and Damon. He looked at Stefan. "Are you going to stay here and make sure there are no accidents?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't…" Stefan stopped midsentence and looked at his brother and ex girlfriend before sighing. "Yeah, I will."

Klaus nodded and turned to leave.

"We aren't the enemy here." Elena yelled after him. Klaus didn't turn or acknowledge her, but inside he wondered.

~.~

Just after sunset, Liz returned to find Klaus and Stefan sitting in the living room.

"Are we ready to do this?" She asked by way of greeting.

Klaus nodded. He had spent the day finishing up around his house. Making sure the bedrooms were set up for guests and checking and rechecking that there was nothing in Caroline's room that she could hurt herself with. He even went grocery shopping. All of these activities were new to him. Normally, he would compel some human or another vampire to handle these things for him, but he was afraid that if he stopped he would start thinking again and the doubts he had would overtake him. Yes, he understood all too well why Liz kept busy. He was still debating internally about just leaving Liz and Stefan the house once he got Caroline installed in the safe room. However, as much as he wanted to run, he couldn't. He had committed himself to this and he couldn't just walk away.

"Where are Damon and Elena?" Liz asked, looking around.

"They went out; we thought it was best if they weren't here. She seems to get agitated when Damon is around." Stefan told her.

Klaus' eyes narrowed, but before he could think on that too much, Stefan continued.

"Liz, are you going to be ok? I know you've seen her before, but I think its important that we all remain as calm as possible. Even if you can't make yourself be encouraging, you can't let yourself become upset."

"I know. I can do this."

Klaus got a small smile on his face. Liz Forbes would make a wonderful vampire. He stood up. "All right."

The three of them descended down to the cell Caroline was being held in and for a moment Klaus wondered if he could handle seeing her again, but quickly shoved that thought aside. When Stefan opened the door the stench hit him first, and he had to steel himself to walk into the room. He could see Liz and Stefan doing the same.

Caroline hung there, just as she had the night before. In his mind he thought she looked worse than before from another day of starving herself, but it could just be in his mind.

"Caroline, sweetie," Liz spoke first, he was impressed with how steady her voice sounded. "We're going to get you out of here, and get you someplace safe."

Caroline didn't appear to hear her, just cackled to herself and tried to bend her wrists in impossible ways so she could claw at herself. Klaus stepped forward and removed some items from the pocket of his coat. The first was a pair of what looked like chainmail gloves, which he slid over her hands. He tried not to notice that he could feel every bone under her skin. She started twitching and mumbling under her breath, but he ignored that as well, focused on his task. After he got the chainmail on her, he took some other gloves out and attached them to her hands, then he wrapped the base of the gloves with metal bands, locking them to hold them in place.

"Good idea." Stefan said.

Klaus didn't answer. He then began to unlock her from her chains. Once she was free, she stood there, completely unaware, just lost to her mumbling. Then in a blink of an eye she lunged at Klaus. Liz gasped and stepped back, but he was prepared for it. He quickly grabbed both of her wrists and trapped them in one hand. She started to wail and fight him, throwing her weight back and forth and trying to plant herself on the ground, but he calmly held her.

"Caroline, love, we aren't here to hurt you. We are going to get you someplace safe, sweetheart."

"It's all right, Care." Stefan added. "Nothing is going to happen to you." She screeched at Stefan and tried to lunge towards him, but that allowed Klaus to get behind her. He took his other hand and put it firmly on the back of her neck. By this point, he was breathing through his mouth at the stench was overpowering. Some of the smells he could recognize and it almost made him sick. He took a few steadying breaths to calm down. He met Stefan's eyes and knew the other vampire could make out the smell of dried semen this close. How they didn't even attempt to clean her made him furious.

"Come on love; let's get you to better accommodations." He spoke softly to her, but she didn't even seem to hear.

Liz turned and started up first, Klaus followed her and Stefan brought up the rear. The entire way up the stairs Caroline fought him trying to break free and crying. All three of them tried to talk calmly to her and get her to settle down. While she wasn't even close to breaking free from Klaus' iron grip, her movements were wild enough that she made him pause a few times to adjust his hold on her.

Finally they reached the living room and still nothing seemed to help her. Finally Klaus spoke without thinking. "Really Caroline? I thought you weren't afraid of anything and here you are acting like this over a little car ride." He scoffed.

Suddenly she froze. For an instant, Liz thought she saw something flicker in her eyes.

"Caroline? Sweetheart?" She asked, but the instant was over and the madness was back. However, Caroline stopped struggling and yelling. The three of them looked at each other in amazement.

"Care?" Stefan tried, but there was no response.

"We need to get her to the house, while she is docile." Klaus told them.

Liz looked at him in awe. "She heard you. For just a second there, she heard you." Tears welled up in the woman's eyes before she got them under control. "Right, let's go."

Caroline stayed calm the entire way to the house. When they pulled up, Liz got out first and ran to open the door. Klaus led Caroline into the house and up the stairs to the safe room. Once there he sat her down gently on the bed. She gave no indication she was aware of her surroundings, but she hadn't in the car either. Stefan and Klaus hadn't tried to talk to her again after she calmed, afraid that something might set her off again.

Liz looked around the room. "Well, it's a lot better than a dungeon." Liz looked at him. "Thank you." She said with sincere gratitude, so sincere it made him uncomfortable. "Thank you so much for this. I believed Damon when he said she was too far gone, but you got through to her." She said in amazement. "I think this will help a lot."

Klaus nodded.

Stefan stared at Caroline. "So, what now?" He asked with a sigh.

"I've called in some help that I think will be able…." Klaus started to answer. Just then there was loud slamming of the door and voices calling out.

"Nik, where are you?"

"Niklaus?"

"And there they are now." Klaus stood up. "Excuse me for a few minutes. Stay by the door. If she gets agitated again or tries to come after you, just slip out." He handed Stefan the key. "If you need me, just shout."

"I think she'll be ok for a bit." Stefan said.

Liz was looking at her daughter with hope and the tears were back in her eyes. Klaus nodded and then headed down to meet his siblings.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the kind words, follows and favs. I've had this story mostly written since Sept, but have been gathering courage to post it since then. So thank you! I'm sorry I didn't give a 'Thank you' shout out in the last chapter, but between allergies and asthma and a wounded cat (who I have to drain pus from his injury every 2 hours) I'm on major sleep deprivation. Day 6 of less than 5 hours a night.**

**Which is probably why I just over shared there.  
I'm going to take a nap.  
I hope you enjoy! Thank you!**

Chapter 3:

"Nik, what is going on? Are you ok?" Rebekah demanded.

Klaus sighed. Maybe this was a mistake. "I'm all right Rebekah." He turned and walked into his study, knowing they would follow him.

"The phone call you made to both of us would indicate otherwise, brother." Elijah listened for a moment. "Who is here?"

"Stefan Salvatore, Sheriff Forbes…" He paused. "And Caroline." He poured himself a drink.

Rebekah scoffed. "Please tell me you didn't call us here because of some stupid attempt to win over that tramp."

Klaus flashed to her in an instant. "If you call her that again, even so much as whisper that sentiment, or if I even see it cross your mind, I will kill you." Klaus swore to her. Rebekah's eyes widened as she saw the truth in his eyes.

"What is going on, Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

"Stefan Salvatore called me and asked me to come immediately; he said it was an emergency. When I got here, he informed me that Caroline and Tyler were kidnapped. Tyler was killed and Caroline…" Again he paused, to gather himself. "Caroline was tortured and violated brutally for about six weeks."

"Oh my god." Rebekah gasped in horror.

"Damon Salvatore managed to rescue her, but she is out of her mind. She is almost feral and a danger to herself and others." He let out a bark of humorless laughter. "In their wisdom, Damon and the Doppleganger chained her up in the cell below the boarding house. I have removed her from there and have her in the safe room upstairs."

"Who would do something like that?" Rebekah demanded. While she never much cared for Caroline, she did have a grudging respect for her and no female should ever have to endure something like her brother described.

"No one knows. There was no ransom demand. They didn't even realize she was missing until weeks later, since she and Lockwood were scheduled to go away together. When Damon found them, he assumed there would be more of a resistance and killed all that he found. Whoever was behind this, was nowhere in sight."

"Are you sure she was violated as well as tortured?" Rebekah asked.

The glass that Klaus was holding shattered under the weight of his grip. "Yes." He answered.

Rebekah went to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Nik."

Elijah spoke. "I take it she is too lost in her madness to be compelled."

"That is correct." Klaus answered.

Elijah studied his brother. "Exactly what is it you think you can do here? Why have you called us?"

Klaus closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Why indeed?

"Because I am going to fix her. I am going to stay with her and help bring her back to herself and help her heal. I called you both…." This was difficult. It felt too much like bearing his soul to them and he did not want them to be a witness to his weakness. Then he thought of the girl upstairs, for her, he would do this. "Because I don't know what to do. I called you because for the first time ever, I feel lost and helpless and I needed my family." Although the words themselves were sweet in nature their delivery was cold and harsh.

Elijah sighed and shook his head. "Niklaus, you can't help her."

Klaus glared and opened his mouth to refute his brother.

"Let me finish." Elijah snapped. "You are completely out of your depth here. By your account, this girl needs professional help. At the very least she needs to surround herself with people who love her and care about her and can admit their feelings. You haven't even been able to bond with your own child and you think that you can take on something like this?"

"What is it you are suggesting I do instead, Elijah?" Klaus' voice had gotten very dangerous. Rebekah stared between her two brothers with eyes wide.

"Put her in a facility where she can get the help she needs."

"How do you propose we handle that? Compel an entire asylum? Have her put in a padded room with a straight jacket?" Klaus slammed his hand down on the table. "That is entirely unacceptable, aside from the fact they would need chains just to hold her again and I will not have her punished for what she went through!" He finished with a shout.

"Then compel a psychiatrist to help her and leave her here to be helped. But with your emotional capabilities, or lack there of, you cannot hope to bring her back." Elijah ended yelling back at his brother. Klaus glared at him hatefully. Elijah sighed and continued in a normal tone. "Niklaus it is obvious you care deeply for her, probably more than I could have ever suspected. The fact that you want to help and even went so far as to call us, shows that. However, if you care for her, you must understand that you are not the person to help her. I am by no means an expert in this sort of thing, but I do know she will need consistent support. It will be a long very slow process that, if it is as bad as you describe, in the end may never work. Do you really think you can handle that? Do you really think you have the patience and the compassion needed for that?"

"For her, I do." Klaus answered.

Elijah shook his head and sighed.

"Nik." Rebekah spoke up. "I hate that this happened to her, I do. Not even you at your very worst would do something like this to a woman. Its horrible and disgusting and I feel awful for her, but I have to agree with Elijah. Do you really think, that we are the best people to try and help someone like this? Don't forget, I was a nurse before, I saw firsthand what PTSD will do to people. Many of them never come back. Are you prepared for that?"

"You forget, I spent a thousand years, seeking an end to that curse. I have the patience to wait another thousand for her…."

"Its not the same." Rebekah interrupted.

Klaus looked away and stared blankly at the wall.

"Niklaus, you have your own family now. A son who needs a father. You need to be spending your time with them and taking care of them."

Klaus finally turned and faced both his siblings. "Allow me to be clear, I love her." Elijah's eyes widened in surprise. "I promised her that I was going to be her last love and I intend to keep that promise. She needs me and I am going to be here for her, no matter what." He looked at Rebekah. "And if she never comes back, if that mindless creature that is up there, is all that will ever be, than I will damn sure make certain that she is cared for. She will NEVER be chained up again. She will NEVER be locked away in an asylum. I called you here because I knew I was in over my depth and I needed help from those I could trust. I didn't want to, but for her I did it. Now you can decide right now, either you are going to help me or you can get the hell out."

"I want to see her." Elijah stated.

Klaus nodded stiffly. "Follow me." He said.

They followed him up the stairs where they met Stefan and Liz Forbes, looking exhausted and depressed. They looked up at their approach. Klaus spoke respectfully to the Sheriff. "I asked them to come because Rebekah has some experience with this and Elijah, out of all my siblings, tends to have a calming influence." He shot Elijah a look, almost ordering him to keep his doubts to himself.

Stefan looked at Rebekah and smiled slightly. "Thank you for coming." He said.

"If you can do anything to help, we both thank you." Liz added.

Rebekah simply nodded unprepared for the sight of both of them seeming so defeated.

Liz looked to Klaus. "Stefan is going to come with me to the house to pack some clothes, so I can be close to her, if that's ok."

"Of course, I told you, there are plenty of rooms for you to stay in. You are welcome here." Klaus answered immediately. "Both of you." He nodded to Stefan.

"We were thinking that Matt might be able to help to." Stefan added. "We couldn't let him in there alone, but he may be able to help break through to her."

"By all means, anyone who can help." Klaus nodded.

With that they went to leave, but Stefan stopped in front of Rebekah. "Its not good." He told her. "I know you have seen a lot, but you need to prepare yourself."

Rebekah just looked at him in surprise. "All right." Stefan reached out and squeezed her hand lightly. He knew that what she was about to see would affect Rebekah. He also knew that while they needed to be there for Caroline, they needed to be there for each other. "If you need to talk later, just find me." With that they left.

Rebekah looked towards her brother. "Nik, how bad is it?" She asked. Elijah just stood there watching everything with a sharp eye. Klaus waited until he heard the front door close and then walked to the door they had Caroline behind. He knocked, unlocked it and then opened the door.

Rebekah coughed and gagged at the stench that wafted out into the hall.

"We haven't attempted to clean her up yet." Klaus said in way of explanation. "Sheriff Forbes can't do it on her own and it didn't feel right for Stefan or myself to try."

Rebekah entered the room, with dread in her stomach. At first, she didn't see her, then movement behind the bed caught her eye. She walked slowly, around the bed, afraid now of what she was about to see.

She could feel Elijah close behind her and that was the only thing keeping her moving forward. She suddenly didn't want to be here. She didn't want to witness first hand cruelty of this nature.

"Caroline?" She called softly. As she got closer, the smell got worse, but she could hear a faint mumbling. "Caroline, its Rebekah." There was no response. She looked towards Klaus fearfully, but his face was set in a mask. Bracing herself, Rebekah finally turned around the side of the bed to see Caroline.

"Oh my god." She breathed out and tears came into her eyes. This couldn't be Caroline. That girl was full of life. She wasn't afraid of anything, even when it was stupid not to be. She was strong. Rebekah raised a hand to her mouth, trying to keep in the sob of horror that wanted to escape. They had covered her hands in gloves or something, obviously to keep her from scratching herself, but she still tried to claw at her legs through the gloves. Rebekah could see her bones poking through her legs and arms, that were covered in filth.

Rebekah knelt down in front of her, making sure to stay out of arm's reach.

"Caroline, we need to get ready for prom." She said softly. "Don't you want to have the perfect prom?" She asked trying to get her attention and get her to look up. There was no answer, she just kept mumbling to herself.

Rebekah reached out and hesitantly touched her leg. Caroline's head flew up and Rebekah met her eyes.

"Come jump in, bimbo friend, let us do it again,  
Hit the town, fool around, let's go party"

Caroline muttered, but with her head up Rebekah could hear her now. Her eyes were wide and blank, with no sign that she actually saw the girl kneeling in front of her.

"Oh Caroline…." Rebekah breathed as the tears pooled over in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "What have they done to you."

"Come on Barbie, lets go party." Caroline muttered.

"What is she saying?" Rebekah almost cried looking at Klaus.

"It's a song they heard as children." Klaus gritted out. "She won't stop."

Rebekah was looking at Klaus and she almost missed Caroline lunging for her, but Elijah didn't. "Rebekah."

At that Rebekah fell back instinctively out of Caroline's grasp. Elijah grabbed her and picked her up. Caroline stopped her mumbling and cackled insanely. Rebekah and Elijah stared down at her in horror, when it was clear that whatever she was reaching for was gone, Caroline looked down at her own arm, her fangs came out and she bit down on her flesh.

"Caroline!" Klaus' voice rang out and he was across the room, holding her arms down. "Stop." She didn't even seem to hear him. "Caroline, luv, stop now, please." She struggled against him. "Caroline!" His voice rose and she froze. He closed his eyes against what he knew would come next. He backed up and gave her space as she stretched out on the floor and once again assumed the position he knew he captors had trained her for. Behind him Rebekah sobbed openly and Elijah was stunned silent.

"She'll be calm for a while." Klaus said tiredly, as he walked to the door.

His siblings stared at the broken creature on the floor for a moment longer and then followed Klaus out. He locked the door and went back to his study where he poured the three of them a glass of scotch. For a long time, no one spoke.

"I'll help you." Rebekah suddenly broke the silence.

Klaus looked up at her in gratitude. "Thank you, sister." He said.

Elijah sighed and looked out the window. "Niklaus, I understand that for the first time, you have feelings for someone and I understand how horrible this is, but are you really prepared to undertake this? Are you certain that mercy doesn't dictate a different solution?"

"You are suggesting I kill her." Klaus' voice was deadly calm. "Put her down?"

Elijah didn't answer, but met his gaze head on.

"You don't know Caroline Forbes, like I do. She is in there. She may have buried herself deep down inside, but she is in there and I will bring her back. Earlier today, when we were moving her, I was able to get through to her a bit. I was able to get her to calm down and listen to me. It wasn't much, but it is a sign. She is in there and she can be reached."

"All right." Elijah said. "I will help in whatever capacity I can."

Klaus nodded. "I actually don't think you would be much help with Caroline, since you were never around her much. I was hoping you could investigate who did this to her."

"Do you have any leads?" Elijah asked.

Klaus looked away for a moment. "I would speak with Damon Salvatore. Maybe go to where they were holding her for clues." He looked at his brother. "She gets very agitated when he get close to her. I also find it strange that he was able to rescue her so easily and yet left no survivors to question."

"You think Damon had something to do with this?" Rebekah asked. "Why? What would he have against Caroline?"

"I'm not certain, but I think it bears looking into."

Elijah nodded.

"Say nothing of my suspicions to Stefan or Liz. They have enough to worry about right now." Klaus demanded. Both Elijah and Rebekah nodded.

"I'm going to get my computer and start doing research on rape victims and survivors of PTSD." Rebekah offered. "We're going to need as much information as possible."

Klaus nodded and Rebekah left the room.

"Are you sure about this, Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

"Yes." He answered immediately.

"I wasn't trying to be cruel with my suggestion." Elijah stated. "This situation is just so beyond anything any of us has ever dealt with. I trust that you know Miss Forbes better than I do, so if you believe that she is somewhere in there, I will defer to you."

Klaus didn't say anything, knowing that with Elijah, this was about the best he could hope for.

"There is something else, brother." Klaus said.

Elijah waited for him to continue. Finally Klaus spoke again.

"You are right, that I have been unable to bond with Henry. I would like for you to take over the role as a father figure to him."

"Niklaus…" Elijah started to protest.

"No, I would rather he have someone in his life that can fulfill that role with an open heart. I cannot, but you can. Believe me Elijah, a child can sense when a father doesn't love him as he should." Klaus said alluding to his relationship with Mikael. "I don't want Hayley to be the only influence in his life. Please."

Elijah was stunned.

"If you spent time with him, you might find your feelings change." Elijah tried to reason with him.

"I will spend time with him, but I need someone constant in his life, to be in the role that I might never be able to fill." Klaus explained. "I don't ask this lightly and I'm not asking because of the current situation either. Its something I have been thinking of for a long time."

Elijah was quiet for a moment. "If this is truly what you wish, I would be happy to step in for you."

"Thank you." Klaus whispered. He was beginning to feel drained, exhausted. So much had happened in the past few days and it was beginning to take its toll emotionally. He thought of Liz, how was she even still functioning? How could she face each day with her child like she was? His respect for the Forbes women went up another notch.

Elijah watched his brother. None of this was what he expected when he received the frantic call from him last night. He was shocked at the depth of feeling Klaus had for the young, broken creature upstairs, and while he didn't hold out much hope that they could retrieve her, as lost as she was, he could understand his brother's determination to try.

"What you are about to attempt, is going to be very difficult, and not just for her, it will be difficult for you as well." Elijah spoke. "If you need to talk, please know, I will always be available to listen."

Klaus closed his eyes briefly and nodded.

~.~

Later, they met in the study to come up with a plan. Klaus looked around the room. Stefan, Rebekah, Liz, Elijah and Matt all sat there in various states of exhaustion and distress. They all needed a good night's sleep and some time to recharge. Unfortunately, none of them could sleep, or would sleep very well. Instead they had decided to regroup and form some sort of plan.

"I would say the first order of business is to get her clean and physically healthy." Rebekah was saying. She looked to Liz. "If I can help, will you be able to clean her?"

Liz nodded. "She would probably start to feel more like herself if she was clean. Caroline would never allow herself to look like that."

"How are we going to get her to feed?" Stefan asked. "She refuses the blood bags."

"Her vampire nature may be able to refuse cold blood from a bag, but I doubt its instincts can refuse warm blood from the vein." Klaus said.

"I don't think she'd have the control to feed off a human right now." Stefan said.

"I wasn't suggesting that." Klaus answered. "I was going to feed her."

The others looked around in shock.

"What?" Klaus asked. "I'm one of the few that can easily restrain her without being aggressive, I also think my blood, with the benefit of being much older, may be able to heal her quicker than your basic human's."

"Are there any side effects from her feeding off of you?" Matt asked. "She won't be sired to you then, will she?"

Klaus shot the boy a look. "No, I'm not doing this to enslave her." Klaus snapped. "I'm doing this to try and bring her back."

"All right." Elijah interrupted before Klaus could start arguing with the boy. "You get her clean, you get her fed, what next? Any ideas on how to bring her out of the state she's in?"

Rebekah spoke up. "From what I've read, when people experience flashbacks, its helpful to explain to them that is what they are and to try to explain that it isn't real. It talks about describing their actual surroundings to them and explain that they are safe."

"Yeah, but this isn't really a flashback. This is more like Caroline has hidden herself deep inside."

"Correct. Its more like a psychotic break with a dissociative fugue. The most common therapy includes drugs as well as therapy."

"Drugs don't really work on vampire physiology." Elijah commented.

"That's right, but vampire physiology also will repair itself much better than a human's, so if we can reinforce in Caroline the truth that she is safe, we may be able to break through her fugue state and stop the pattern of the psychotic break."

"Um, can we please speak English for the guy who barely graduated?" Matt asked.

"Simply put, if we can get Caroline to realize she is safe and no longer in danger, she may be able to come back to herself and begin the process of healing." Stefan explained.

"Ok, and to do that, we just need to keep telling her she is safe?" Matt asked.

"Tell her she is safe, talk to her about normal things, play her relaxing music, read to her. Anything that will enforce feelings of comfort and peace. We need to avoid any type of hostile feelings or try to refrain from upsetting her." Stefan explained again.

"I suggest we work in shifts. Avoid leaving her alone as much as possible." Rebekah stated. "When we can, I also suggest we team up to do this. This is going to be very hard and taxing on us. Everything I've read about this sort of thing, talks about how we need to care for ourselves as well. We won't be any good to Caroline, if we aren't functioning well." Rebekah stared at Klaus as she said this last part.

"This won't be something that happens overnight, either." Stefan stated. "This can take weeks, even months. We need to be prepared to handle this for the long haul."

Liz looked up. "Do you really think we can bring her back?" She asked quietly. She had asked before and even found hope when Caroline calmed down for Klaus today, but when she looked at her daughter, the doubts took over.

Klaus crossed the room and knelt down before Caroline's mother. "I do." He told her with all sincerity. "Sheriff Forbes, Caroline is one of the strongest creatures I've ever met. I truly believe she is in there somewhere and she wants to come back. I think if we can reach her, she will work just as hard as we do to heal herself."

Liz stared at him. This was the man who terrorized them for so long. This was the man who saw countless dead and tortured, but for her daughter, he turned his single minded determination towards healing, for nothing more than seeing Caroline come back to herself. If he could believe it was possible, than it had to be possible.

"Thank you." Liz said. "For everything you've done and everything you are doing." She smiled at him. "And call me Liz."

"Its all for her." He stated.

Rebekah spoke. "Should we start fresh in the morning, then?"

Liz looked over at her. "If you don't mind, can we get her cleaned up tonight? I think she'd stand a better chance of getting some rest if she was clean."

"Of course." Rebekah answered. "Are you sure you are up for it? She will probably fight us."

"I know, but it's a start. After everything, I need to feel like we've started."

Rebekah smiled in understanding. "I'll go run a bath, you probably want to change into something you don't mind getting drenched." She told Liz. The woman nodded and they both stood up.

"If things get out of hand, just call for us." Klaus offered.

"Since she hasn't been feeding, she is pretty weak." Rebekah said. "I should be able to handle her on my own, but if I need you, I'll call."

After they left the room Matt looked up. "We still don't have any leads on who did this?" He asked.

"None." Stefan confirmed.

"Since I'm not close enough to Caroline to be of much help with her therapy, I'm going to be looking into that." Elijah spoke up, not looking at his brother.

"Rest assured, Matt. I will find the responsible parties." Klaus swore. "And they will take decades to die for what they have done."

Matt gave a humorless laugh. "Normally, I'd be creeped out by a statement like that, but in this case, I happen to agree with you."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

It was the middle of the night. Rebekah and Liz had managed to get Caroline cleaned up and washed. Caroline had fought with Rebekah when she stripped her clothes from her, but the feeling of the water had seemed to calm her somewhat and she put up only token resistance to being cleaned. They had also trimmed her nails down low to hopefully prevent her from being able to scratch herself.

Unfortunately, the toll it had taken on both Liz and Rebekah to see exactly how bad Caroline's physical condition was, had both the women in tears when it was done. They put Caroline in some comfortable yoga pants and an old T-shirt that her mother said was her favorite and then both women had gone to their rooms.

Elijah had gone out to speak with Damon and Elena about Caroline's abduction. Stefan, while they had been bathing Caroline, had gone and changed the sheets in the room and brought out a few of Caroline's things to make her more comfortable. He had even gone so far as to spray some of her favorite perfume around the room, in the hopes that even if she couldn't consciously realize she was safe, some of her other senses could pick up on the familiar.

Klaus had stayed in his study, needing some time alone to try and process everything that had happened.

While he would never admit it out loud, his sibling's doubts had affected him. The one thing he always had was confidence in his abilities. Even when he felt less than the others or separate from them because of his very nature, he had been confident that he was the strongest, the most powerful. However, that did him no good in this situation. Nurturing or caring was not something he knew how to do, and to care for someone as injured and damaged as Caroline was, what if he did something wrong? Or made it worse? What if she could somehow sense the violent nature within him? Sense all the blood he had on his hands and it sent her farther into herself?

Elijah had every reason to question him and could very well be right. Maybe what was best for Caroline was just to find and compel a psychiatrist and leave her in his care. Stefan and her mother could remain here at the house.

Klaus let out a sigh. Maybe it was arrogance that led him to believe he could affect this outcome in any way for the better.

"Sitting alone in the dark doesn't seem like the best idea right now." Stefan's voice interrupted his thoughts. Stefan turned on a lamp sitting on the table and poured himself a glass of scotch before sitting down. He looked at the glass with a small smile. "Something tells me we're going to need to stock up on this." He commented.

Klaus didn't answer. They sat in silence for a long while before Stefan spoke again.

"I know Liz thanked you, but I haven't." He said. "Thank you for coming so quickly and thank you for calling in Rebekah and Elijah. I honestly wasn't thinking too clearly when I called you, but I appreciate you coming and everything that you've done."

"I just hope I can be of some help." Klaus muttered.

"You already have helped. You got her out of that dungeon. You've given her someplace safe that she stands a chance to try and heal in. You were able to break through to her a bit to get her into the car. You got Rebekah here so she could finally get cleaned up. Out of all of us you've done the most." Stefan told him.

Klaus sighed. "I was thinking that I might not be the best person to help with this."

Stefan stared at him for a moment, watching his face. Klaus refused to look up and meet his eyes.

"I heard what Elijah said to you when they arrived. Liz couldn't hear, but lucky vampire senses, I could." Stefan said. "None of us know really what to do here. We are all fumbling in the dark, but I truly believe that because you do care about Caroline, and you want her to come back, that you will be one of the ones that can reach her. I think the more people she has around her who care about her, the better off she'll be."

"After everything I've done, do you really believe that I will be able to draw her away from dark memories of violence?" Klaus asked bitterly.

"Caroline knew how you felt about her. She knew that you would never hurt her and she knew that you were capable of caring." Klaus almost flinched at the reminder of Caroline's words so long ago in Elena's living room. "The thing you will have to remember is that this will take time and patience. None of us are alone in this. You are going to need to trust us and talk to us. If you don't, the frustration and pain will begin to eat at you and you won't be any good to Caroline. If you can do that, then I think we need you here, almost as much as we need Liz." Stefan told him.

Klaus nodded, not trusting his voice.

Stefan let out a sigh. "You need to get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day." He commented. "I'm going to check on Rebekah before I turn in."

"I'm going to check on Caroline." Klaus said suddenly. "I want to see if I can get her to eat."

Stefan studied him. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll be fine."

Stefan nodded. "Ok, but if you need anything…."

"I appreciate it. I also appreciate your checking in on Rebekah. For all her bluster, my sister is a very sensitive creature and I know this is affecting her deeply."

Stefan gave him a small smile. "But she is your sister, so she has a great deal of strength inside her too. And I think she's going to be a big help through this."

The two of them walked up the stairs and Klaus headed for Caroline's room. He could hear very faintly the sound of crying come from Liz's room and debated about knocking to see if she wanted to talk, but he knew that she had said earlier she just needed some time to herself, so he respected her wishes. He heard Stefan knock lightly on Rebekah's door and her admit him and then he took a deep breath and knocked on Caroline's door before entering.

There was a soft lamp lit in the corner, illuminating the room in a soft glow. The scent of her perfume made him close his eyes for just a moment and picture her standing before him with her bright smile and shining eyes. He pushed the image away and braced himself for the reality as he walked around the bed to where he knew he'd find her curled up in the corner. They had done a good job getting her cleaned up and they had braided her hair back so it no longer hung in her face. Unfortunately, she was only days away from desiccating and was still emaciated and way too thin. With her hair pulled back he could easily see how skeletal her face was sitting on top of what appeared to be bones held together by skin. He was slightly relieved to see there didn't appear to be any new scratches, and he took that as a small sign of improvement.

Klaus knelt down before her.

"You are looking much better, luv." He said softly. She gave no indication she could hear him, but he was relieved that she wasn't muttering that horrible song. "I bet you feel a lot better being clean." There was still no response.

He reached out and lightly brushed her temple. Her head flew up, and even knowing what he'd see, he still had to force himself not to react at the sight of her blank, insane stare.

"Caroline? Sweetheart? You need to feed. You need to start to get your strength back; it'll help you feel better so you can come back to us."

He saw her lips start to move and he knew that she was about to start up her muttering. "Caroline, please, I just need you to eat a bit. I think it may help you get some rest so your body and mind can start to heal."

He moved closer to her, into a sitting position and started to lightly stroke her hair. "Caroline, you are safe. I'm here, your mother is here, Stefan is here, Matt is here, even Rebekah is here to help you. We won't let anything happen to you. You are safe here in the mansion. Nothing can hurt you." She began to mutter, giving volume to her words. He concentrated on not hearing them. He swore that someday he would track down whoever wrote that damn song and beat them to death with a Barbie doll.

"Caroline, you just have to eat. I know you must be hungry." With that he bit into his wrist, causing the blood to flow. He put his bleeding wrist under her nose. "Come on now, love. We've been here before. You can do this." He winced and wondered if remembering the last two times they did this wouldn't be detrimental to her. There was no response.

Klaus pushed he wrist closer to her. "You know I don't do this for many people. Remember I am the world's most powerful being, you won't get offered a much better meal than this."

He saw her nose twitch and he knew she could smell the blood. "That's it, have at it. You know you want to eat." He saw the veins appear under her eyes and suddenly she snatched up his wrist and dug her fangs in deep. He hissed at the harsh way she bit down, but the pain was minimal compared to the feeling of accomplishment he felt at getting her to eat. He continued to stroke her hair and murmur softly to her."

"There you go. It's ok, you need to feed. It's ok to start to heal, sweetheart. You are safe now. We've got you and you are going to be ok." He didn't know how long he sat there while she fed. Eventually he began to feel a bit weak and knew he needed to stop her. "That's enough for now." He told her. She didn't give any sign that she heard or sign of stopping. He sighed and debated about the best way to get her to release him without pushing her back into herself. He finally reached down and grabbed her jaw, applying pressure to both sides, which got her to release him. Then he pulled his arm back from her grasp. For a moment she reached out to snatch the arm back, but he quickly pulled them down to her side. "Easy now. You can have more tomorrow, but I need to recharge a bit." He told her. He studied her face. Her eyes were still blank and lost, but he could see the difference in her flesh. She would need a lot more blood, but from just one feeding her flesh had started filling back out and she didn't look so skeletal. "You look a lot better now." He told her. "Pretty soon you'll be back to yourself."

He slowly let go of her arms, and tried not to be disappointed when she immediately wrapped them back around herself and began rocking and muttering with her head held down.

"I promise you Caroline, we are going to help you. We are here for you. You are safe now and we are going to take care of you and bring you back."

He sat there lightly stroking her hair, telling her this over and over again. Early the next morning, Stefan found him there, barely awake and obviously in need of blood, but still murmuring to her lightly and stroking her hair.

"Klaus." Stefan said softly. He gave no indication he heard. Stefan walked further into the room. "Klaus." He said a bit louder.

The hybrid looked up at him completely startled. He looked horrible; there were dark circles under his eyes that looked dull probably from lack of sleep and lack of blood. Stefan sighed.

"I'm going to take over for a bit, you need to go some blood and some sleep." For a second Stefan thought he would argue, but then he nodded. He looked back at Caroline for a moment.

"What time is it?" Klaus asked him.

"Its morning. You didn't get any sleep last night, I take it." Stefan said with light reproach.

"I don't know that she slept, but she did doze off and on after I got her to feed." He said tiredly, ignoring Stefan's question. "She looks a bit better."

"She looks a lot better than she did." While she was still emaciated and you could see the bones through her skin, her skin wasn't stretched so tight around her that you could count every one. "You, however, look like shit. Go eat, go sleep and then shower."

Klaus leaned forward. "I'll be back later, love." He told the girl who didn't seem to notice, just sat on the ground staring off and muttering.

Klaus stood up and left her to Stefan's care. He wondered down to the kitchen first. Stefan was right, he needed to eat. He could smell food being cooked and could hear Rebekah and Liz talking in the kitchen. They both looked up at his entrance.

"Oh my god, Nik. You look like shit." Rebekah exclaimed.

Klaus sighed. "So I've been told."

"When was the last time you slept?" Liz asked.

Klaus thought for a moment. "The night before Stefan called I got a few hours."

"You told me I needed to stay healthy and keep my energy up, well you do too." Liz's tone of voice reminded him so much of Caroline he got a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Yes, ma'am." He said.

"Don't call me ma'am." Liz warned. "You're much older than I am."

Rebekah handed him a blood bag and he immediately tore into it, at the first sip he realized exactly how hungry he was and finished it off in seconds. He threw the bag away and went to the fridge to get another. He ignored his sister's chastising look.

When he turned Liz looked slightly startled. She explained at his questioning look. "I was trained to fear and hate all vampires and not only is my daughter one, I'm in a house filled with the Original Vampires. Sometimes I forget though, I mean, I know it, but then to see you feed…." She trailed.

"I'm sorry, Nik apparently forgot his manners." Rebekah said and Klaus almost blushed realizing why she gave him that look. He was tired.

"I got Caroline to eat last night." He told them by way of explanation.

Liz sat up straight. "Was there any change?"

"No, but she looks a bit better." He sat down at the table across from Liz.

Liz looked down. "That another one of 'those' things, I knew she probably wouldn't get better after one night, but I still hoped…."

Rebekah came over and put a plate in front of her, then laid her hand on her shoulder. "Its good to have hope, we'll all just have to work on keeping it realistic. Otherwise, we'll start to feel disappointed and we don't want her to start picking up on that."

Liz nodded. "Small steps."

"Well, she did doze off a few times." Klaus said. "I doubt she was getting much rest hanging in chains." He sighed. "She would jerk awake after 20 minutes or so, extremely agitated."

"Could we maybe enter her dreams?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus considered for a moment. "She's not sleeping long enough or deep enough to really have dreams right now." He said slowly, he sat there for a few more minutes thinking. Rebekah walked to the sink and started on the dishes.

"Could we put her to sleep?" Liz asked.

"We could." Klaus agreed, and then he sighed. "I'm just very hesitant to enter her subconscious in the state she's in."

Rebekah looked up. "The monk in Vienna?" She asked.

"Exactly." He answered.

Liz looked back and forth between the two of them. "Monk in Vienna? What does that mean?"

"When I was searching for the way to break my curse, there was supposedly a monk in Vienna….Was it the 1200's Rebekah?" He asked his sister.

"Something like that, I think."

"Anyway, the monastery was Schottenstift**. **It just means Scottish Abbey, they were Scottish…"

Rebekah sighed. "She didn't ask for a history lesson." She scolded him lightly.

He shot his sister a look, but then saw the look in Liz's eyes and realized Rebekah was right.

"Sorry." He apologized, "I'm tired and rambling. Anyway, there was a monk that supposedly held the gift of precognition; I was hoping he could tell me where to find the Doppleganger. Trouble was, he was completely insane. I thought that I could get around that by entering his dreams…" Klaus trailed off, remembering.

"Bad idea?" Liz guessed.

"Something like that." Klaus said dryly. "I almost got trapped inside his mind. I got lost in his insanity." He shook his head.

"How did you finally get out?" Liz asked.

"Oh, it finally occurred to me just to kill him." Klaus said absently, his mind still lost in the past.

Liz's eyes widened.

Rebekah walked over to her brother. "All right, that's enough, you've eaten, now go get some sleep."

Klaus looked up at her in surprise and then looked over at Liz, who was suddenly looking at him like was going to leap across the table at her. He thought back over what he said. He shook his head.

"My apologies, for that blunt statement." He tried to be polite. It was things like this that made him wonder if he really should be responsible for Caroline's well being. How many stories did he have that didn't end in slaughtering at least one human?

"Nik!" Rebekah again interrupted his musing. "Go get some sleep now. Matt and Stefan have it covered until this afternoon, the Liz and I will go in."

"Right." Klaus stood up; the exhaustion was really starting to hit him. "Let me know if there's any change."

"We will." Rebekah said, "GO!"

She and Liz were silent as Klaus left the kitchen. Rebekah looked over at Liz. "Sorry about that, sometimes he over shares."

"It's ok, like I said, it's just all so surreal sometimes. I was taught all vampires should be killed on sight."

Rebekah looked at the door her brother had just exited. "We're going to have to keep an eye on him." She told the other woman.

"What do you mean?" Liz asked, sounding worried.

"My brother has always been very reactive. This situation with Caroline, given how much he cares for her, he's going to try and overdo it. He'll be the one we'll have to make sure eats and sleeps, otherwise it won't be good."

"Will he be dangerous?" Liz asked.

Rebekah gave her a smile. "Not to us and not to Caroline. To himself, yes. If he thought it would help he would go diving into her dreams and risk getting trapped there for her." She sighed. "My brother, Elijah doesn't understand, he thinks that its just an idea Klaus has. He doesn't understand that since Klaus denied himself love for so long, now that he is in love, he is head over heels in love. You take that, with the pain that Caroline is in and his feeling of helplessness…." Rebekah trailed off.

Liz watched her, trying to wrap her head around the concept of Klaus in love with her daughter. Rebekah shook herself out of her thoughts. "For being raised to hate vampires, you seem to have a pretty good relationship with Caroline." Rebekah observed, in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

"Well, she's my daughter. And being a vampire seemed to make her so…happy, confident; it made her grow as a person. I don't know." Liz shook her head. "Maybe I'm the one who's rambling from exhaustion."

Rebekah grabbed her own plate and sat down next to her. "It's nice. My mom wanted us all dead for what we are and she was the one who made us like this."

Liz looked at her. This thousand year old teenager who really hadn't had a mother. Liz reached out and took her hand. "Well, you seem to have turned out pretty good without her." She told her, the shy smile on Rebekah's face eased her pain and worry over her daughter for just a moment. "I'm glad you are here." She told Rebekah.

"Thank you." Rebekah said. "Although, I have to tell you, most of the time I was in school with Caroline, I wanted to kill her."

Liz laughed. "I know a lot of girls did." Then she stopped and looked at her. "Wait, do you mean literally kill her?"

"Well," Rebekah sighed. "There was this dance…..

~.~

Days turned into weeks with no signs of any improvement. Granted, Caroline looked more like herself, feeding from Klaus not only had her back in physical shape, she was probably in the best physical shape ever. Unfortunately, for the most part, there was no change in her mental state. Every once in a while, it would seem as though she was coming back; a focusing of her eyes, a quiet spell that seemed in response to a question, finding her favorite blanket taken out of a box and covering her one morning, when no one put it on her. These small little signs were not much in the day to day care of her and despite their promises and determination the group taking care of her was starting to feel discouraged.

Klaus was even more frustrated with his brother, who could not find out who was behind this. He spoke with Damon and Elena, but insisted that they wouldn't have anything to do with this. Of course, since Elijah was still of the opinion it might be kinder to put her down, Klaus didn't trust his judgment when it came to them. He had been able to track down where her kidnappers came from. It was a family turned during the Depression years, the father had lived in Appalachia, a poor farmer, that somehow got turned and then turned his boys. The girls and his wife, he apparently slaughtered. Their tiny Appalachian Shack held many stories of their cruelty and sadism, but nothing on who had hired them.

Currently, Klaus was pacing in his living room. Stefan was upstairs with Caroline, Liz, Rebekah and Matt were sitting on the couch trying to think of other ways to get through to her.

"I've got all of her favorite songs on a playlist on her Ipod." Matt offered.

"So far all that's done is drive those of us with musical taste about insane." Klaus snapped. He was met with three identical glares.

Klaus resumed his pacing. What he wanted, more than anything, was to rip someone apart. He was craving violence in the worst way. Unfortunately, he was certain the good Sheriff would not appreciate it if he started snacking on her town's people.

He stopped and looked up. "Stefan said that Elena came back to herself when they killed Matt, perhaps…."

"NIK!" Rebekah yelled, Klaus shrugged and resumed pacing. Rebekah and Liz exchanged glances, this was what Rebekah had been worried about. "Why don't the two of you go help Stefan?" Rebekah suggested to the humans. They nodded, knowing she wanted to talk to her brother alone. Once they were gone Rebekah turned on Klaus. "Why don't you change and go hunt?"

"I'd love to, but I don't think the Sheriff would love it."

"Well, isn't fortunate that you can change into a wolf."

Klaus just grunted at her.

"Nik you need to go blow off some steam. You aren't helping anyone like this." She tried again.

He still didn't answer. She finally reached out and grabbed his arm making him stop and face her. "What happened to that infinite patience you had?" She questioned. "I thought you would wait as long as it took."

"Yes, well that patience doesn't mean shit when someone I care about is suffering!" Klaus shouted at her. Rebekah didn't say anything, just letting him rant. "I thought if we got her healthy and somewhere safe that the rest would happen naturally, but its not. She's hiding!" He yelled. "And every day, going in there and seeing her look like Caroline, but yet no sign of her is like a slap to the face. Here we are, all of us giving up our lives for her and she's not even trying!" He picked up a glass and threw it, then stood there panting.

."You do realize that at this point, we won't have any rocks glasses left at the rate you keep breaking them? Are you quite finished with this temper tantrum?" Rebekah asked him coldly

He nodded.

"Good, now, do you really believe think that after everything that happened you get to dictate the timeline that she'll come back to herself? How arrogant are you? That girl went through something we can't even imagine. By all indications, not only did they hurt her physically, but they basically trained her to respond to them as if she were some sort of animal. They destroyed her sense of self, took away her dignity, robbed her of everything that made her Caroline."

Klaus put his face in his hands for a moment. When he looked up his eyes were bright. "I know and I didn't mean what I said…."He said tiredly.

"You are just frustrated and worried and for the first time don't have any control at all over the situation?" Rebekah finished for him. He sighed and nodded.

"What if she never comes back?" He whispered, "What if they really did destroy everything that was Caroline?"

"You were the one who convinced me she was still in there." Liz's angry voice interrupted them. They both looked up at her in shock; obviously she had stayed behind and had been listening. "Now, after less than a month, you're ready to give up?"

"No, I'm not giving up." Klaus stated. Liz came and stood before him.

"Really? Because that's what it looks like."

"I'm not giving up." He stated again, this time stronger and more forceful.

"Good." Liz softened her voice. "I know you are worried and you hate seeing her like this. We all do. I'm just as frustrated as you are, that's why we have each other for support. But the past few days, you've just been letting it eat at you. I get that you aren't used to working with other people as a team, that you are used to things obeying your commands, and that you don't like being out of control. The fact is, none of us have any control over this situation. So you can either man up, and let us help you, or you can let it rip you apart inside, which won't help Caroline any."

Klaus let out a humorless chuckle. "Sheriff, you may be the only human who would ever give me pause if we were on opposite sides."

"Then let's stay on the same side." She offered him a small smile.

"That sounds good." He offered her a small smile in return.

"We're all frustrated, Nik." Rebekah said. "And no matter what our intentions, this didn't suddenly turn us into saints. The other day, I went in to feed her and she took a swipe at me a ripped on of my favorite shirts. I had to step out of the room for a few minutes, I was so irate."

Klaus gave her a look. "Really Rebekah? Over a shirt?"

"Yes, over a shirt. That's my point, we are all starting to feel the effects of constant care giving with no return. Its not easy to constantly be soft and affirming, when besides maybe Stefan and Matt, its not something we normally do."

Liz spoke up. "I understand what you mean about going in and seeing her look like herself and yet there is no reaction. There are times when I just want to shake her and scream at her to get her back. Then I feel awful for feeling like that."

"Exactly." Klaus said.

"You aren't alone in this." Liz said. Klaus finally relaxed a bit.

"Actually, you both may be on to something." Rebekah said thoughtfully.

"You want us to try shaking her and yelling at her?" Klaus asked dryly.

Rebekah shot him a look. "No, but we keep trying to let her know she's back and she's safe, but then we are all whispering and being so saccharine, she may not trust it. Maybe we need to challenge her a bit, give her a little push."

"How much of a push?" Liz asked.

"I don't know." Rebekah admitted.

"I think I'm going to take my sister's advice and go out for a run." Klaus said.

"I will be pissed if you eat my town's people." Liz warned.

"I'll stick to deer." He assured her. They headed into the entry way when suddenly there was a loud yell from upstairs.

"Caroline, NO!" Stefan shouted. There was a loud crash.

Rebekah and Klaus were up the stairs in a flash, Liz followed as fast as she could. When they got to the room, Caroline was feeding off of Matt, Stefan was struggling to get up from the far wall where she apparently threw him. Klaus was across the room in an instant pulling her back. Rebekah grabbed Matt and got him away from her.

Liz entered the room and looked around in horror. Blood dripped from Caroline's mouth and she was cackling. Liz knelt down in front of Matt. "Will he be ok?" She asked.

Rebekah looked worried, but nodded. "He should, he lost a lot of blood, but not enough to kill him."

"What happened?" Liz asked, looking over to Stefan. Caroline started struggling against Klaus' hold.

"She's been agitated all night." Stefan sighed. "When Matt came in, she got upset. I thought maybe listening to her music might help her, but when I turned to put it on, she attacked. I tried to stop her, but the diet of Original blood has evidently made her much stronger than me."

"What set her off, do you think?" Rebekah asked.

"No clue." Stefan slowly picked himself up off the floor.

Tears welled up in Liz's eyes and overflowed down her cheeks. She stood up and walked to Caroline. "Caroline Forbes that is enough." She snapped. The others exchanged amazed glances. "I know you have been through something unimaginable and we are here for you and we are going to keep you safe. But this is going to stop right now. I know you are in there somewhere and I know that if you ever make it back, if you find out you've hurt a human; much less someone like Matt, who you've known for years you'll never forgive yourself. So I need for you to find some way deep down inside there to understand that we are here. None of us is going to hurt you and you need to not hurt any of us."

During her speech Caroline slowly calmed. First she stopped laughing, then she stopped struggling, then it felt like the strength left her legs. Klaus slowly released her and she curled up on the floor in fetal position.

Rebekah walked up to Liz. "What was that?"

Liz sighed tearfully. "A little push." She sniffled.

"She's calm now. We should see to Matt." Klaus offered. He looked to the boy bleeding on the ground. "I was actually kidding about sacrificing you, you didn't have to go ahead and sacrifice yourself, Mate."

"Ha fricken ha." Matt grumbled. Stefan helped Matt up off the ground and Klaus walked over with them towards the door. Rebekah and Liz were close behind when they heard it.

"Mom?" It was so faint Liz almost didn't hear it, but the vampires did. Everyone stopped and spun around. Caroline was still on the floor, but she was sitting up with her arms around her knees and she was looking directly at Liz.

"Caroline? Sweetheart?" The tears erupted from Liz again.

"Mom, is it over?" She whispered.

Liz moved so fast it was almost vampire speed and fell to the ground in front of her daughter and hugged her tight. "Its over. You're safe, we have you. Its going to be ok." She sobbed.

Caroline hugged her mother back and closed her eyes, tears leaked out of them. "They killed Tyler." She cried. "They….they…." Sobs overtook her and she clung to her mother.

"I know, Sweetheart, I know."

The others were silent just staring in awe. "We should give them some privacy." Stefan said. They all slowly moved towards the door, Klaus lingered just a moment longer and suddenly Caroline looked up at the movement. Klaus met her eyes for several seconds before she dropped them to the ground. He closed the door as he went out.

**A/N: Thank you again for all the lovely reviews and to all who are taking the time to read this. This was not one of the chapters that I wrote last Sept and it kind of went longer than I wanted. I'm not really happy with the conversation between Liz, Rebekah and Klaus regarding their frustration. It was hard to show how they were all feeling without making them seem petty. Anyway, the next chapter is one of my favorites. We'll get to hear a bit from Caroline and see some interaction between her and Klaus. I should have that up by Monday or Tuesday, I just want to smooth out some parts. **


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

In fairy tales, it's simple, the handsome prince wakes the cursed princess and they live happily ever after.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a fairy tale. The princess hadn't been cursed asleep, she had been driven insane by violence and it wasn't a handsome prince that saved her, it was her sharp tongued mother. Still, for a brief moment there, they had all hoped that it was over and all that was left was the 'happily ever after'.

They were wrong.

"I'm telling you, you're wrong!" Matt yelled.

"Really? And what do you suggest we do?" Klaus yelled back. "Just allow this to continue on until she finally finds a way to kill herself?"

"Would both of you calm down!" Rebekah yelled interrupting them.

"I agree with Klaus." Liz stated. "We can't continue to watch her all the time. What other choice do we have?"

"Now you sound like Damon and Elena." Stefan reminded her. Klaus glared at him and Liz shot him a hurt look.

"You are comparing taking away the bad memories with locking her up in a cell?" Klaus all but roared.

"I'm comparing it to the idea that you are taking away her freedom, yes." Stefan insisted.

"That ridiculous."

They had been here for hours, arguing and neither side was willing to give ground.

At first the relief that Caroline was aware made everyone ease up. They had thought the worst was behind them, but then the reality set in.

Yes, she was aware, but she still wasn't healed and she would probably never be the girl they remembered. She barely spoke; one word answers or short sentences were all they could get from her. She wouldn't speak about what had happened and trying to question her made her retreat into herself to the point that they were afraid they would lose her again. They had to be careful how they moved around her. Sudden movements would cause her to shrink in fear. Tones of voice had to be carefully moderated; sometimes even sarcasm would make her start shaking. But the worst was her eyes. The madness had left them, the blank stares were gone, but it was somehow worse to see all that torment in her face while she was aware.

However, the biggest problem was that they couldn't leave her alone for very long. When she had been insane, they watched over her in shifts, but they had been able to leave her alone for hours at a time and for the most part, she was safe and self contained, locked inside her own mind.

After she came back to herself, in the first week they had been awakened in the middle of the night to a loud crashing noise. Everyone had raced to her room to find Caroline had snapped one of the posts on the bed and tried to drive it through her heart like a stake. Liz had screamed, anticipating her daughter would start to fade away. Klaus had been across the room and yanked the piece from her chest. She tried to fight him, but even with his blood she was no match for him.

"Its resin." He snapped at her. "You think I would let you in here with the means to destroy yourself?" He all but yelled at her. Scared out of his mind by the sight of her laying there with the stake embedded in her and blood blooming across her chest. Caroline had curled into a ball sobbing as Rebekah and Liz surrounded her. Klaus went pale as he realized his tone. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Stefan had led him out of the room. Klaus hadn't slept that night; he sat in his study drinking scotch with Stefan until the sun rose and the others came to say that they had calmed her down.

It wasn't the last incident, a few days later she had been with Matt and Rebekah in the kitchen. The two had turned away for a moment and Caroline had taken one of the knives and drove it into her thigh all the way to the handle.

And so it continued, she would be calm, and sitting there, then in a split second, if they took their attention away, she would react and try to hurt herself or kill herself. They had tried, time and again to figure out if there was some pattern to her episodes, but they couldn't find anything to link them.

It was now the end of October. Caroline had been taken at the end of May, rescued at the beginning of July, Klaus had brought her here in the middle of July. After almost a month, they had broken through to her at the end of August and now they had spent over 2 months just trying to keep her alive and healthy.

They were all exhausted beyond anything and Klaus couldn't escape the thought that he was failing her. Beyond that was the terror that at some point, due to their exhaustion, she would succeed and then she would be gone, on his watch, in his house. Klaus had vowed, to himself, that if that happened he would dagger himself and make sure they dropped him at the bottom of the ocean because he couldn't exist knowing that he failed the woman he loved.

Last night, in a desperate last ditch effort he had asked Liz if he could try to compel the memories out of Caroline, to make her forget everything that had happened and bring her back to herself. Liz immediately agreed, even though they hadn't spoken of it, he knew that she shared his fear that they were going to lose Caroline. It was the others, who absolutely refused to allow him to do this.

Klaus sighed. In retrospect he wished they had never told them their idea, but in the interest of being a 'team'. They had. He hadn't expected their objections.

"It's not taking her freedom." He insisted, bringing his mind back to the argument raging in his living room. "It's giving it back to her. She'll have the freedom to live her life without this following her for the rest of her existence."

"It's wrong." Rebekah told them. "You are taking part of her life away."

"A horrible part of her life. A part that no one would want to remember or relive. How is that wrong?" He demanded.

"It just is. You can't undo this, Nik. I know you want to, but it happened and you can't just erase it like it never happened." Rebekah insisted.

"What if he didn't take all of it?" Liz asked. "Or what if he just took away some of the pain that was associated with it?"

Rebekah scoffed. "The mind is incredibly complex and while our compulsion is extremely strong, with something like this there is no guarantee that there won't be some trigger or some emotion that is just lying dormant in there. It could be worse for her than what is going on right now."

Liz looked down. Klaus began to worry that they were going to turn her against the idea. "We're all upset and very emotional at this point. I suggest we take a break and calm down and discuss it again in the morning."

Matt gave him a look. "Are you sure you aren't going to try and compel her tonight, while we are all distracted?" Klaus glared at him. The boy was too smart for his own good.

"No." He said through gritted teeth.

"Do we have your word on that?" Stefan asked.

Klaus huffed in annoyance.

"Your word, Nik." Rebekah insisted.

"Fine." He ground out. "I won't compel her tonight."

"You won't compel her without all of us agreeing." Stefan insisted.

"Well, that's a trap isn't it? Considering you've all stated you won't let me compel her, even if it means her death." He snapped.

"Your word, Nik." Rebekah said again.

He glared at his sister hatefully. "I promise not to compel Caroline, without your approval, unless it becomes a matter of saving her life."

"Unless we all agree it becomes a matter of saving her life." Rebekah added.

"Fine!"

"I'll go relieve Elijah." Rebekah said. Stefan gave her a warm smile and stroked her back before she left the room. They had resumed their relationship at some point. Klaus knew that it helped them cope with the situation. Matt and Liz were able to go back to the real world and take a break and forget occasionally, but Klaus was the constant. He didn't go anywhere or distract himself with anything except the care and restoration of Caroline.

Matt left to go to work and Liz and Stefan retreated to the kitchen. Klaus knew that Stefan would try to convince her their idea was wrong, but he didn't have the energy right now to start the fight over.

Klaus sat down and stared into the fire blankly. After a few minutes, Elijah entered the room. Elijah was still looking into who was behind this attack. He was searching all of their contacts to see if anyone heard any rumors what had happened, but so far there was still nothing. He returned frequently to Hayley and Henry, now his son. Klaus knew he hated to be away from them, but at the same time the loyalty to his family had him coming back at least once a week to check in.

"How is she?" Klaus asked his brother.

"She's fine." He said. "I read, she sat there. A few times it looked like she was getting upset, so I would tell her about the book I was reading. She didn't really answer, but it seemed to distract her."

For whatever reason, Caroline seemed to do the best with Elijah. While it relieved him that someone was able to keep her calm, the jealousy her felt towards his brother was there, burning hot. Elijah sat in the other chair next to the fire.

"I take it from you brooding the others were not as excited with your plan." Elijah commented. Klaus had told his brother of their plan, when he asked him to watch her for a while. While Elijah hadn't weighed in with his opinion, the look on his face clearly stated what he thought of it.

"They think we are taking her freedom from her." Klaus said. "I guess they'd prefer to let her kill herself."

"Yes, when I started to hear the shouting, I turned on some Etta James to drown it out. I didn't think it would be good for Caroline to hear."

Klaus didn't answer.

"May I offer a suggestion?" Elijah spoke again.

"What?" Klaus asked, certain this would end in another lecture.

"Why don't you ask Caroline what she wants?"

Klaus looked at him startled. "What do you mean?"

"Ask her if she wants the memories taken from her. She's the one in pain, she's the one living with this. Ask her what she wants. Does she really want to die? Is this something she has no control over?" Klaus didn't say anything, so Elijah continued. "Since she came back, I've watched you all. Every one of you is spending so much time telling her its all ok now, maybe she thinks that she isn't allowed to not be ok and that is part of the problem."

Klaus stared at him. "You might be right." He breathed. "Thank you."

He stood up to go talk to Caroline.

"Niklaus." Elijah stopped him before he left the room. "You have done an admirable job by her. I'm impressed, but you need to realize that even if you can't get through to her, if she doesn't want to continue, its not you who have failed."

Klaus stopped by the door. "You're wrong. If I can't save her then I have failed and in the worst way." He said simply and left the room. Elijah stared at the fire, considering his brother's words.

~.~

Klaus walked into her room she was sitting there on the bed, looking at the painting on the wall, one of his landscapes. She looked up at his entrance, but there was no expression on her face. Her eyes held the sad, pain that seemed to take up residence there.

"Rebekah, could you give us a moment?" He asked his sister.

"Why?" Rebekah asked mistrustfully.

"I wish to speak with Caroline." He said.

Rebekah stood up. "Fine, but remember your promise." She warned before leaving the room.

He sat down in a chair across from Caroline. For several minutes, he didn't speak, just studied her. She didn't seem to mind his examination; she just calmly stared back at him. He wished more than anything he knew what she was thinking.

"We've just been talking about you." He finally spoke up. She let out a soft exhalation that could almost be mistaken for amusement, if she was still capable of amusement. He shot her a wry look. "Your mother and I want to compel you to forget what happened." He told her. Something like shock crossed her face and she leaned back a bit. He waited, but she didn't speak. "Rebekah, Matt and Stefan are against this idea. It's led to quite the argument. They say we're taking your free will and choice from you. Liz and I just don't want to see you in pain anymore. Finally Elijah suggested, that since you are once again aware, and aside from your episodes, sane, that I should give you the choice." She stared at him, her eyes were wide with shock, there was no mistaking it now. "So Caroline, I'm asking you, would like me to compel you to forget so you can get back to yourself?"

She looked down at the bed; she seemed to be studying the stitching on the bed spread, lightly running her fingers over the pattern. He waited while she worked things through in her mind, after probably fifteen minutes she looked up and met his eyes.

"So this is it? You think this is all there will ever be?" She asked him and the misery in her eyes made him want to hug her tight and chase away all her demons, but he knew she was not comfortable with being touched. "For the rest of my existence, unless I let you compel me, I'll be nothing but a victim? This will define everything about me? There is no hope that I'll ever get any better?"

Klaus sighed. "I'm not saying that." He tried to explain. "You are in so much pain and you keep having these flashbacks that lead to suicide attempts. You don't have to live with this, I can take it away."

She tilted her head and studied him. "What will you take away? The rapes? The torture? Will I remember Tyler? What will I think happen to him?" Her voice started to break and her breathing sped up. "Do you really think, that you could erase it all? What happens if 'happy Caroline' who I used to be, does have the phantom memories or ghosts in there? Will she be able to deal with the sudden terror and panic attacks? What about the shame and sadness? She won't understand. What will that do to her? Will she eventually go insane?" Caroline questioned him. Klaus opened hi s mouth to answer her, but she cut him off before he could. "No. No." She stated, she inhaled shakily. "I won't disrespect Tyler by forgetting how he died." Tears started to roll over her cheeks. "If you believe that this is all there will be, then please, just let me go." She cried.

"NO!" He stood up and approached the bed. He had to remind himself not to grab her and hug, afraid that it would cause a flashback. He also made himself kneel down before her, not wanting her to feel like his was towering over her. "Caroline…." He tried to explain.

"I'm trying." She whispered, piteously. "Every day I try. I try to remember who I was. I try to remember what it felt like to smile and feel happy. I look at the things that I used love before," She pointed to a stuffed dog on the bed. "And I try to remember that girl that I was." She sniffled. "But it takes everything I have, just to shut out the memories. All day long, I fight to keep it together. It hurts so bad that it seems like the physical pain may dull or distract from it just a bit, but then you'll all think I'm crazy and restrain me. So I sit here and I try. Those episodes I have? They are what happens when I can't fight them anymore. " She looked at him, breathing heavy from the exertion. Unable to stop himself and wanting to offer her some sort of comfort, he held out his hands to her. However, he was shocked when she grabbed both of them and squeezed them tight almost as if it were a life line.

"There is so much shame and fear and hurt inside of me." She told him. "I can't stand it. All I want is for it to end. I can't imagine a day where it will ever be gone and I'll be able to be ok again." She looked at him desperately. "Everyone keeps telling me that I will heal, that it will eventually fade, but now you are here asking to erase everything."

"Caroline," Klaus finally interrupted her. "I would love to promise you that it will all be ok some day, but I don't have that power. I do believe that you will eventually come to terms with this and be able to have a life apart from this." He looked into her eyes. "I don't know that you could ever be the girl you once were, you've seen too much, experienced too much, but that doesn't mean you can't have a life. I'm not suggesting compulsion just to get that girl back." He brought their hands together, trapping hers between his and stroking the backs of them lightly. "This may surprise you, love, but I don't do well with feeling helpless. I just hate seeing you in pain. I hate that I can't fix this. I see you struggling and I don't know what to do. What good is being the most powerful creature on this planet, if I can't help you?"

"Please don't compel me." She said. "It will feel too much like giving up. That's why I didn't turn off my emotions. To do that would mean they won, that I was just an object, not a real person." Her breathing sped up again, and he could tell she was starting to relive events in her mind again.

He moved to sit beside her on the bed. "Caroline?" There was no response and her eyes were far away and filled with terror. He used one hand to lightly stroke her hair. "Caroline?" She jerked and for a moment he thought she was going to have an episode, but then her eyes focused on him and some of the fear drained away. "I won't compel you." He told her. "But I won't let you go either."

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." She whispered. "I know you all want me to come back and be the girl I was, but I'm not her anymore. I don't even know how to be her anymore. Its so hard and I'm so afraid of letting you all down, but between that and these other emotions, I'm so tired."

"I need for you to promise me something, I know you can't talk about what happened yet, its still too fresh. However, we are here for you in whatever capacity you need. If it starts to get out of control, tell us. Let us help you. That's why we are here. Even Rebekah."

"But you all have done so much already. I'm sure that taking time out of your lives…."

"We have nothing but time." He reminded her. "Unfortunately, we are all uncertain here. We need you to tell us what you need."

"Sometimes it changes. There are times I can't stand to be alone and there are times that's all I want."

"And we'll understand that. All we want is to help."

"You really believe that there will be a day, when this isn't all I think about? A day where the pain will fade? Where I won't hate myself from the shame?"

"You have nothing to be ashamed of. You were a victim."

"Logically, I understand that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling it. They…." Her words faded off and her breathing sped up. He offered her his hands back and she quickly laced her fingers through his. "I can't." She gasped.

"Its ok." He urged. "Its ok, love."

"I don't want to see the look of disappointment on your face." She admitted.

"You won't." He assured her.

"You don't know that. You don't know…"

"Caroline, this wasn't your fault." He tugged lightly on her hands and brought her closer to him. He didn't wrap his arms around her the way he wanted. She looked at him desperately, as if she wanted to believe. He was shocked when she lay her head on his shoulder.

"You do help." She whispered. "When I'm around you I feel safer. I feel like they can't hurt me, that you won't let anything hurt me."

"I won't." He swore.

"And its ok, if I can't ever be her again? The Happy Caroline you and everyone remembers? The one you fell in love with?" She whispered again.

"All I want is for you to not live in fear and pain." He told her. He wanted to kiss her forehead, but didn't want to overstep and break this fragile trust she seemed to have to allow herself to take comfort from his physical presence. This was huge, since she shied away from any sort of touch.

There was a knock on the door. Caroline sat up. Klaus looked to her for permission and she nodded.

"Come in." He said. Liz and Stefan entered.

"Is everything ok?" Liz asked hesitantly. Stefan looked relieved that Caroline obviously wasn't compelled.

Caroline nodded.

When she didn't seem to want to speak, Klaus spoke for her. "Caroline, has asked that we not compel her, that we let her try to heal on her own." Klaus said looking at Liz.

"Sweetheart, are you sure?" Liz asked.

"Mom, I don't know that you could ever take all of it away and I don't want to forget Tyler or what happened to him."

"She said she'd prefer it, if we just let her go, if we don't think she can heal on her own." Klaus told them. Stefan nodded.

"No." Liz stated.

"That's what I told her." Klaus said looking back towards Caroline. "However, she has promised to try and communicate her needs with us more. So maybe we can help her to start to heal."

Stefan smiled. "That seems fair."

Caroline seemed to hesitate for a moment and they could tell something was on her mind. "I don't want to disappoint you." She told her mother, the same thing she told Klaus. "I know you want your daughter back and now I'm not the same."

"Caroline, I'm just happy you are back." Liz assured her.

Again, Caroline hesitated.

"What is it?" Liz prompted.

"I know you brought all this stuff from home to remind me of who I was and better days, but a lot of it just reminds me of who I'm not anymore. Would it be ok if we took some of it away?"

"Of course." Liz told her.

"Caroline, you can decorate this room any way you want. It's yours." Klaus assured her, then he hesitated. "If you would prefer a room that isn't the safe room, if you feel…."

She shook her head. "Not yet. I don't trust myself enough, but thank you."

"I don't want you to feel you are a prisoner." He told her.

She looked around the room. "I actually like it here." She said. "Its just some of the dolls, I feel like they are taunting me." She looked at the row of old ceramic dolls that she had collected as a child. She exhaled and shook her head. "I guess that seems crazy."

"No it doesn't." Klaus assured her. "Some of those dolls seem like they are taunting me." He told her with an attempt at levity.

He swore she almost rolled her eyes at him, the way she used to and behind him, Stefan laughed.

"If only we knew that a few years ago, we could have stopped you with an army of dolls."

Klaus shot him a look and Liz laughed outright. This time Caroline did roll her eyes. "Big bad Hybrid brought down by dolls." Klaus about beamed. She was making a joke for a few minutes there weren't those horrible shadows in her eyes. He couldn't even care that he was the butt of the joke. If it helped her he'd make an ass out of himself on a regular basis for her amusement.

"There's one other thing." She said. "Matt's cologne, I remember it. It's the same one that they had, or one of them did." She swallowed heavily. "I've been trying to ignore it, or trying to use it to challenge myself to get over my fear, but…" She shook her head.

"I'll make sure he doesn't wear it again." Stefan told her.

"Do you want me to start clearing things away?" Liz asked her, again Caroline hesitated.

Klaus squeezed her hands in encouragement. "If its ok, I'd like to." Caroline spoke.

"That's fine. I'll be right here, if you need me." Again Caroline hesitated.

"Could Rebekah maybe help me, if she isn't busy? She has a way of not making it so…"Caroline seemed at a loss.

"You don't have to explain." Stefan offered.

"Emotional." Caroline finally said. "It helps me be less emotional."

"We'll send her up." Klaus told her. "And I'll look around for some boxes." Caroline looked at him gratefully.

Liz leaned over and gave her daughter a light kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to go to work for a bit. Is there anything you would like me to bring from the house?"

"The picture of Daddy, when he was younger."

"I'll get it."

Liz and Stefan left the room.

Klaus looked at her. "I'll leave you to it then." He told her. He squeezed her hands lightly one more time before letting them go.

She spoke just as he got to the door. "Klaus?"

He turned.

"I know that this isn't easy for you, not being in control, but thank you. For everything."

"Caroline, you know I'd do anything for you." With that simple statement he left the room. Stefan was waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

"You made a lot of progress." Stefan commented.

Klaus leaned against the banister and sighed in relief. "I feel like we've finally made a start."

"She's communicating and allowing contact. This is huge."

They started down the stairs. "We've still got a long way to go." Klaus said. But Stefan was right, this was huge. He could still feel her leaning against him, with her head on his shoulder. He could hear her words saying that he made things a bit easier just by being there. He was pretty certain that nothing could wipe the smile off his face right now.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one. I apologize for any glaring errors in this chapter. I tried to read over it again before posting, but the turkey coma is kicking in and I can't promise my brain cells are firing at full capacity. **

Chapter 6:

"Hey guys." Matt greeted as he walked into the Mikaelson's kitchen. Stefan and Rebekah were sitting at the kitchen table watching Caroline work around the center island.

"Hey Matt." Stefan returned.

He looked towards Caroline. "What's on the menu for tonight?"

"Shrimp Beignets with Dehydrated Garlic Butter, Marinated Grouper Cheeks w/Saffron Cream, Cilantro Pesto and Tapioca "Caviar", Gran Marinier Cured Salmon w/ Smoked Tomato Jam and Candied Pistachios, Cold Smoked Duck Confit w/Grilled Portabella, Wilted Spinach, Red Onion, Crème Fraiche and Demi Glace, Dressed Heirloom Tomato Vertical Salad w/ House Made Mozzarella, Shitake Mushrooms and Golden Raisins and Espresso w/ Chocolate Cobbler." Caroline answered.

In an effort to keep Caroline from thinking too much they had encouraged her to take up different hobbies. Since she wasn't comfortable leaving the house, Rebekah suggested cooking. She found Rebekah was right. It suited her mind frame right now. It involved lots of lists and attention to detail and she was able to lose herself for hours in the kitchen. At first her offerings were barely palatable, but since she had more than enough free time on her hands and lots of thoughts to keep quiet in her head, she worked and worked at it. It helped that Klaus bought her enough books on cooking to fill a library.

Matt just gaped at her. "I have no idea what any of those words mean. I think I got 'shrimp', 'onion' and 'chocolate'.

"Well, hopefully the words won't matter but it will taste delicious." Caroline commented before going back to her recipes.

Matt sat down at the table with Rebekah and Stefan. "Is her mom coming tonight?" Knowing that when Caroline was in her 'zone', it wasn't good to distract her.

"She has to work. Stefan told her we'd run a plate over to her later." Rebekah told him.

Liz had moved home a week or two ago. Caroline was stable enough that she felt comfortable leaving her. It was close to Christmas and while Caroline still wouldn't talk about what happened, her episodes had diminished to only one or two a week and by now they learned how to recognize the signs. When she was by herself, Caroline would come to the kitchen in the middle of the night or seek out one of them for company to try and stave off the panic. More often than not, it was Klaus' company she sought.

Caroline finished her task she was working on and came and sat by them in the kitchen. "Prep work is all done. All I have to do is execute when its time." She said. "How was a day serving the drunks?" Rebekah asked.

"Pretty good. There's a lot of people in town for Christmas break." Matt studied her. She had dyed her hair red not long after redoing her bedroom. It took a bit to get used to, but it did suit her. She looked tired and she no longer had the shine to her eyes that basically beamed happiness and a willingness to take on the world, but if you didn't know her before, you wouldn't know what she had been through. All you would see was a slightly melancholy girl. "Jeremy and Elena came in to the Grill today. He's home from college." Caroline didn't say anything. "Elena misses you. She'd like to come see you and hang out."

Rebekah and Stefan froze. They had no idea how much Caroline remembered from when she wasn't in her right mind. She hadn't really mentioned Elena in the past few months since she came back to herself.

Caroline looked a bit hesitant. "It's not really my house to be inviting people over." She commented.

Just then Klaus walked into the kitchen. "You can invite over anyone you would like." He paused. "Who are we inviting over?"

"Elena." Matt answered. Klaus froze mid step towards the refrigerator.

"Oh."

Caroline looked at him with uncertainty. "Is it still ok?" She asked.

"Of course." He said lightly.

"Elena isn't good at handling things." Caroline said. "I really don't think they knew what else to do." Her voice wavered for a moment. Klaus walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, but didn't say anything.

"How much do you remember?" Stefan asked her lightly.

Caroline took a deep breath. "Just brief moments and they are mostly through a haze. I know she was scared. She cried a lot." Caroline looked out the window and there were tears in her eyes. "She didn't think I was going to make it." She whispered.

"She was wrong. She underestimated you." Klaus said, and he tried to keep the growl out of his voice when he remembered how he found her. Caroline reached up and lightly squeezed his hand, whether it was to take comfort or to calm him was unclear.

Caroline looked up at him. "You told her to stay away?" She questioned.

"I was worried you would pick up on her doubts about your recovery." He answered calmly.

Caroline nodded. They all sat there for a few minutes. Stefan and Rebekah began talking to Matt about Christmas plans. The Originals really weren't much for celebrating the holidays, but in an attempt to make Caroline and the humans feel more comfortable, they were trying. Caroline got up and went back into the kitchen to cook. Klaus sat down in her empty chair and kept one eye on her, to make sure she was ok.

After a while, Caroline looked up. "It would be good to see Elena. I miss her too." She said, although she still sounded a bit reluctant.

"We can have a girl's night." Rebekah offered. "Watch movies, look through fashion magazines, things like that."

Caroline looked relieved. "That sounds good." She looked to Matt. "Should I call her?"

"If you want. Or just pick a night and I'll let her know."

Caroline looked to Rebekah, who shrugged. "Tomorrow night works for me."

Caroline nodded. "Tomorrow night then." She went back to her recipes and cooking, turning all of her attention to the task at hand.

Klaus shot Rebekah a look and she nodded. No words needed to be exchanged. If at any point Elena upset Caroline, she would be out the door.

~.~

The next evening right about 6pm, the doorbell rang and Rebekah went to open it. Elena stood on the other side of the door looking very hesitant.

"Well, don't just stand there. Come in." Rebekah said. "We're not leading you to your death."

Elena glared at the girl as she came in. "Nice to see you too, Rebekah." She said dryly. "Where's Caroline?"

"She's in the kitchen. A few things before you see her, she still isn't talking about what happened, so don't push her to talk about it. She's different from how she was before, we try not to point it out too much, it makes her self-conscious and uncomfortable." Elena nodded.

"How is she though?" She asked in a whisper, uncertain how much sound carried.

"She's coping, but she's better." Rebekah shot her a look. "You'd be amazed what NOT being chained up will do for a person."

Elena sighed. "I hated that, but we didn't…"

"Know what else to do." Rebekah finished for her. "Yes, so I've heard." Rebekah led her to the kitchen.

"Caroline, Elena is here."

Caroline looked up from the food processor that was running to see her oldest friend.

"Care!" Elena yelled and ran across the kitchen and grabbed her in a tight hug. Caroline looked startled and slightly uncomfortable at the loud voice and abrupt action, but she hugged her back weakly.

"Oh wow!" Elena exclaimed. "Your hair."

Caroline reached up and touched it. "I needed a change." She said quietly.

Elena finally seemed to pick up on how uncomfortable Caroline was and stepped back. Caroline relaxed slightly.

"I made sun dried tomato hummus for a snack." Caroline offered.

Elena nodded. "That sounds good."

Caroline nodded and then an awkward silence fell over the kitchen as they struggled for something to say.

"Caroline, I'm so sorry for how we handled things." Elena spoke quickly and earnestly. "We just didn't know what else to do and you were in such bad shape and we couldn't get through to you."

Rebekah rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. The girl just wouldn't listen.

Caroline got a look of alarm on her face and turned away quickly, grabbing things from the cupboards. "I was thinking about making cookies." She said.

"Caroline?" Elena questioned.

"Elena." Rebekah cut in. "Are you still going to University?" She asked giving Elena a look to let it drop. Elena's shoulders sagged a bit, but she caught on to what Rebekah was trying to say.

"Yeah. I had a pretty good semester. Jeremy is doing amazing, though. He made the Dean's List. Who would have thought he would be the brains in the family." She joked.

Caroline turned back around, feeling more comfortable with the light conversation. "Does he have a major yet?"

"Engineering. Can you believe it? I still haven't decided on anything. Damon keeps telling me I don't have to, or I can pick something and if I don't like it, I have centuries to study something else."

Caroline nodded her agreement. "Another perk of being a vampire."

Elena hesitated. "Do you think you may try to come back to school next year?"

"I really don't know yet." Caroline said. She shrugged. "I've gotten really good at cooking though." She offered. She removed the hummus from the food processor and put it in a serving bowl surrounded by crackers. She carried the platter over to the table. Elena followed her and the girls sat down. Once again, awkward silence reigned.

Finally Caroline spoke. "How is Damon?" She asked, although her voice sounded strained.

"He's good. Stefan is over there now hanging out while I'm here." She didn't mention that Klaus had sent him to say that while Elena was welcome to visit, Damon was not. "I'm still working on domesticating him, but he hasn't killed anyone in a while." Rebekah snorted. "So, what brought on the interest in cooking?" Elena asked desperately looking for another topic.

"Um, it helps me." Caroline offered. Elena didn't say anything and she continued. "Most of it is pretty precise until you get the basics and then it allows you to get creative, but there are still rules that you need to use. What spices will work together, how different foods cook. Things like that."

Elena looked at her blankly and then took a cracker and dipped it in the hummus. "Oh my god, this is really good." She said. "You may have the start of a new career."

"Thank you."

"I saw your mom the other day. She said you made her the best dinner the other night."

"Yeah, I really went all out with that one." Caroline's eyes warmed. "It helps that Klaus can get almost any ingredient I need to play mad scientist."

At the mention of Klaus' name Elena looked to Rebekah, considering. She seemed to make up her mind. "How is that working?"

At Caroline's questioning look, Elena explained. "I mean, we all knew he had feelings for you, but we never expected he would be someone who could help with this sort of thing."

Rebekah watched Caroline, but the she didn't seem upset by the question or the reference to what had happened.

"Klaus has been great." Caroline said. "He's helped me a lot." She looked across the table. "So has Rebekah and Stefan and everyone." She looked down. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them."

Elena looked embarrassed. "It's just hard to imagine. I mean we are talking about the guy who killed Jenna and Tyler's mom."

Caroline raised her head sharply. "And you are sleeping with the guy who compelled me to be his blood bank and whore for weeks." She snapped.

"What?" Rebekah exclaimed.

Elena looked at her alarmed. "It was a long time ago, when he first came to town." She said. "He's changed."

Rebekah ignored her and looked at Caroline. "That's why you got upset whenever he came near you."

Caroline nodded. "He makes me remember what its like to be helpless. Even when I didn't know where I was hearing his voice….it…." She stuttered and took several deep breaths to calm herself.

"Klaus thought he might be behind what happened." Rebekah said wonderingly.

"Damon wouldn't do that." Elena exclaimed.

"Yeah, apparently he'd do it himself instead of hiring out." Rebekah snapped, giving her a disgusted look. "If Klaus finds out, he'll kill him." Elena looked scared now.

"That's why I never told him." Caroline said. She sighed and looked at Elena. "I may not like that you are with him, but I don't want him dead." She looked towards Rebekah. "Besides, I think you and Stefan make a great couple." She told her warmly. Rebekah blushed and looked down at the table.

"You and Stefan are back together?" Elena all but accused.

"Yes, Elena." Rebekah said. "Are you upset you couldn't keep both brothers in love with you?" She asked meanly.

Caroline sighed. This was a really hard. She felt pressure to be 'ok' for Elena, she felt like she had to play referee between her and Rebekah and she was having a hard time staving off the panic. "How about we watch a movie?" She asked to change the subject, hoping for a distraction.

Elena jumped at the idea. "I actually brought The Notebook with me. We can swoon together." She said with a giggle.

"Sounds good." Caroline said, but Rebekah could tell she was less than enthused. The girls grabbed the food and headed into the living room to put the movie in.

~.~

"Niklaus." Elijah greeted his brother as he entered the study. Klaus was sitting at his desk working on a sketch. "I see Elena Gilbert is out there."

"Yes, she is here to visit Caroline."

"That's a big step." Elijah commented.

"We'll see how it goes. I'll probably have to kill her before the night is over for some reason or another." Klaus didn't even look up from the sketch he was working on.

Elijah sighed at him. "I received a call from the witches in New Orleans. They want to know when you are returning to finish what you've started.

Klaus finally looked at his brother. "I'm not." He said simply.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm giving up New Orleans. Marcel can have it."

"But…" Elijah was stunned. "You're giving up? I thought you wanted to reclaim your home? What about Hayley and Henry? Do you know what the witches will do when the find out?"

"Calm down Elijah. I'm not putting your family at risk. I've taken steps to ensure that they will both be protected from the witches."

"They are your family too. Even if Henry was biologically my child he would still be your family." He waited for a response from Klaus, but he just looked at him. "I don't understand." Elijah tried again. "You never give up."

"I'm not about to leave Caroline and I can't very well take her to New Orleans with me. I don't think a war zone would be the best place for her right now."

"You made a promise to those witches, brother. Do you really think they'll be ok with you just abandoning them now?"

"They are going to have to be, because Caroline is my first priority." Klaus paused and gave his brother a look. "I don't know why I have to keep telling you that."

"I understand that you are protective of Caroline, but she is getting better and you can't seriously believe that the witches won't go after Hayley."

"Caroline is better, but she hasn't left this house since she arrived. She still needs people around her to keep her distracted and she still won't talk about what happened. She is a long way from healed and as you told me, she was going to need constants. I'm not about to leave her right now and go wage war. As for Hayley and Henry, I have other witches in my employ, witches who are much stronger than some beat down coven in New Orleans. I've had wards up around the property and protection spells over both of them."

Elijah shook his head. "I can't believe you would risk the safety of your family for this."

"I'm not risking anything. Hayley and Henry are safe." Klaus considered his brother. "I would think this would make you happy. For centuries now, haven't you wanted me to put someone else before myself? Haven't you wanted me to care about someone more than my own desires for power?"

"Your obsession with Caroline, leading you to play the part of guardian angel hardly exhibits that." Elijah snapped. He waited for the explosion from Klaus knowing he had hit a nerve, but his brother surprised him, he just smiled at him.

"I'm sorry you believe that. I understand you are worried about Hayley, so go if you need to reassure yourself they are safe. Move them if you wish and put your own protections in place. However, I have no intentions of returning to New Orleans and continuing this war." Elijah just gaped at him. "Is there anything else?" Klaus asked him.

"No. I'll be leaving." Elijah said stiffly. He was unsure how to proceed. He knew his brother better than anyone, but none of this was what he expected from him. His brother was very impatient and reactive, prone to outbreaks of temper. Dealing with him just calmly staring at him was…disconcerting.

"I understand." Klaus said simply and went back to reading at his desk.

~.~

While it was a good distraction from the awkward conversation, Caroline became more and more quiet throughout the film. Elena made comments throughout; about how romantic it was and how sweet it was. Caroline would answer back in agreement, but her heart wasn't in it.

Finally the movie was over and Elena was getting ready to leave.

"It is so good to see you Care. You look good and I do like the hair." She told her enthusiastically, at this point it was obvious she was trying too hard to sound positive and cheery.

"Thank you." Caroline said. Elena hugged her tight again; Caroline gave her a weak hug in return, but again looked relieved when she released her.

"We'll have to get together again soon, ok?" Elena asked.

"Ok." Caroline agreed.

"Good night Rebekah." Elena said.

Rebekah gave her a completely fake smile. "Good night Elena. Lovely to see you." She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Elena shot her a glare before leaving.

Once the door shut behind her Caroline let out a loud sigh. "I'm going to go clean up the kitchen." She said tiredly.

"Do you want some help?" Rebekah offered.

"No, I just wanna be alone." Caroline said.

"Are you ok?" Rebekah asked her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She stopped. "It was just…a lot."

"Stefan should be home soon. I'm going to go grab a shower."

"Ok. Thanks for being here tonight."

Rebekah smiled at her. "No problem."

"Are you going to tell Klaus?" Caroline asked her. "About Damon, I mean."

Rebekah considered. "I think you should, but I understand why you won't. He will kill him." She looked at Caroline closely, studying her. "How can you stand it? Your best friend is in a relationship with the guy who took advantage of you like that."

Caroline shrugged and stared off into space. "For a long time, there was always so much else going on. Some other drama that took the attention away from that issue. Then, things calmed down and everyone seemed to think it was no big deal. Even Stefan never brought it up, so I guess I just figured it was no big deal. Something I just needed to get over."

"Caroline." Rebekah grabbed her arm and made the girl look at her. "This is not something you should just be expected to 'get over' and what happened to you last summer is not something you should just 'get over' either. You will never be able to heal unless you face what happened and you can talk about it." A look of panic entered Caroline's eyes. "I'm not saying tonight." Rebekah soothed her, "But eventually you will have to face what happened if you ever want to be able to let it go."

Tears brimmed in Caroline's eyes. "I'm so afraid." She whispered and then so soft Rebekah wasn't sure she heard her correctly she said "I'm afraid he's going to hate me."

"What?" Rebekah said loudly. "Who would hate you? Caroline, none of this was your fault."

"I'm going to go clean up the kitchen." Caroline said, sounding resolute. Rebekah watched her walk away with a worried expression on her face and then went off to find her brother.

~.~

Several hours later, Caroline sat alone, in the dark of the living room. The TV was on, but she obviously wasn't paying it any attention.

"I take it girl's night was a rousing success." Klaus' voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see him leaning against the door frame, his arms were crossed over his chest and he had one eyebrow raised.

Caroline sighed. "I noticed you didn't come out while she was here." She commented.

"Didn't want to interrupt 'girly' time." He joked.

Caroline let out a humorless huff.

He came in and sat down next to her on the couch. "What happened?"

"Nothing really." They sat in a comfortable silence for a bit. Klaus looked to see how she was really doing. At first he hadn't like her hair color, but now it seemed to suit her. She was looking healthy, but she still looked exhausted. She wouldn't admit it, but he was certain she wasn't sleeping well.

"It was just exhausting." Caroline finally said. Her words almost echoed his thoughts. "I just didn't know how to relate to her and she was so…" She fumbled for the words. "She was just trying so hard. I mean I know she feels bad for how they treated me, but…" She trailed off again.

Rebekah had filled him in on how the visit went. She had said it was rather painful to watch. She told him that Elena did seem to be trying, but the stupid girl had no idea 'how' to try. Klaus had spent about twenty minutes thinking about all the ways he'd love to torture the girl. Besides her blood, when she had been alive, Klaus really had no use for the girl. However, she was Caroline's friend, so he resisted the urge to handle things as he usually did, and just remove her. Instead he came to talk to Caroline.

"She means well." He forced himself to say.

Caroline looked at him. Her face wasn't nearly as expressive anymore; you couldn't see every thought that crossed her mind reflected in her features. Now, you had to watch closely to see her reaction, however, he spent a great deal of time studying her, so it was easy for him to she looked almost amused.

"That hurt to say, didn't it?" She asked, there was a slight tinge of amusement in her voice to.

He smiled. "Horribly." He looked up at the TV. "What are you watching?" He asked, as a loud voice from the TV caught his attention.

"I think it's a Jersey Shore marathon." She answered.

"Caroline, I will do anything to help you, but I'm afraid that I have to draw the line at watching this garbage."

"I wasn't watching it." She told him. "It was just on." She looked down. "It's better than The Notebook."

"Take you weren't in the mood for a romantic drama." He commented lightly.

"You think?" Caroline sighed. "She means well." She said. She exhaled lightly, (a sound that he knew was her way of laughing), when she realized she just echoed his words.

"How about a different type of movie?" He asked.

Caroline looked doubtful and shrugged. He smiled brightly and encouraging at her, then held up a DVD.

"Joe Versus the Vocano?!" It was the closest he'd heard to excitement in her voice since she'd arrived.

"I remembered you talking about it. You said it was one of your father's favorites and you always loved watching it with him when you went to visit." They had spent many hours together talking about things like her childhood, favorite books, favorite movies. Light things that didn't have any consequences or hidden land mines. Klaus hated how much he treasured those conversations when he thought about the reason they were necessary, but he treasured them all the same.

Caroline sat up straighter on the couch. "I don't know that you'll like it. Its pretty cheesy." She admitted.

"Well, let's see." He encouraged her and he could see a glint of eagerness in her gaze. Klaus got up and put in the movie before settling on the couch next to her.

As the movie played, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She had curled up on her end of the couch, but she looked comfortable and relaxed. He could see her mouth twitch at the funnier parts and knew for how she was now, that was the same as a full bodied laugh. The movie was cheesy, but watching Caroline enjoy it made it worth it.

"I like that idea." Caroline commented, sleepily. "I like the idea of sailing away from the things of man." Referring to a line in the movie.

"We can do that, if you want." Klaus offered immediately.

"Hmmmm, not today." She answered; she was starting to nod off.

Her breathing began to even out and her eyes fluttered closed more than they were open. He tried not dwell on her muttered words. 'Not today.' That wasn't a 'no'. That meant there was a possibility in the future. This meant, subconsciously she was thinking that she had a future. Or he could be reading too much into it.

She was only asleep for about 15 minutes, when she began to whimper. Klaus sat up and took notice. She began to struggle a bit, in her sleep. Klaus wanted to slip into her dream and try to help her, but remembering the conversation about the compelling he waited to see how she would do. He didn't want to go where he wasn't welcome. If she got to distressed, he'd wake her.

He didn't event he get the chance, for no sooner did he think that than she bolted upright. Sheer panic was in her eyes and he could tell she couldn't see her surroundings.

"Caroline." He whispered with urgency in his voice. By now he knew the exact volume and tone to get his voice to cut through her panic. Sometimes it took a few tries, but it worked. "Caroline." He said again and he saw her eyes focus on him, but the panic was still there and her breath was coming out in little gasps and she was shaking. He gently reached out an arm to her and he was shocked when she fell against him, her arms went tight around him. He sat there stroking her hair and talking to her quietly. "It's ok. You're safe." He told her. He closed his eyes and wished for the millionth time he could take all of her pain away. Elena and Damon were so wrong when they thought he would enjoy this. Yes, he enjoyed spending time talking to her and getting to know her, but he would rather never speak to her again if it meant she didn't have to go through these panic attacks.

Her breathing slowed and she eventually looked up at the screen, where the movie still played. A huge moon was rising above the ocean. The main character was sitting on some sort of trunks tied together staring up at it and seemed to be praying. "If we do sail away, we need luggage like that." She muttered. "It last through everything."

"I'll make sure of it." He told her. They watched Tom Hanks on the screen.

"Does that happen a lot?" He asked, referring to her nightmare.

"It happens more than it doesn't." She admitted. "I don't get a lot of sleep."

"I could go in your dreams." Klaus offered. Caroline ducked her head against his chest. And once again he was surprised that while she was still hiding from him, she was taking comfort in him at the same time.

"I don't know that I want anyone to see." She said quietly. "I'm not ready."

"Well, I could stay with you and if you look like you are having a nightmare, I could just take you out of it. Take you somewhere, like the South Pacific."

"We could float around in the ocean on trunks?" She asked.

"Probably a lot more comfortable than doing it for real." He said.

"If its no trouble."

"Its no trouble." He assured her.

She turned her attention back to the screen. Her grip on him loosened, but she didn't sit up or move away from him. He continued stroking her hair as he followed her example and looked up at the TV.

~.~

The next morning the sound of footsteps woke Klaus up. He came awake and realized he was very stiff. He glanced around and saw he was still on the couch, leaning against one end with Caroline asleep on top of him. The footsteps came closer and Stefan came into view. He looked down at them and gave Klaus a small smile before walking away and closing the door behind him.

"Guess it's time to get up." Caroline's voice mumbled sleepily.

"You don't have to." Klaus said softly. He had almost expected her to wake up in a panic, either because of the nightmares or when she realized she was sleeping on him.

"No, that was more slept than I've had in forever." She sat up and wiped at her eyes. "Guess you scare away the bad dreams."

"Another perk of being the most powerful creature in the world." He told her modestly.

She rolled her eyes and stretched. He followed suit and his shoulder popped loud when he raised his hands over his head. Caroline looked embarrassed. "Sorry." She said.

"Its nothing. Just needed a stretch." He told her.

She looked at him. "Thank you." She said.

"You don't have to keep thanking me." He told her.

"I'm not telling you that because its polite. I'm telling you that because I appreciate everything you have done and are doing for me." She looked at him considering. "I know in the past when you did nice things for me, I never thanked you."

Now it was Klaus who looked embarrassed. "Well, to be fair I also did a lot of things that weren't so nice, so I probably didn't deserve the thanks for the little things I did."

Caroline shook her head 'no'. "That's why I should have thanked you. You were going against your nature, and I never really appreciated it." She thought back to the night before to her conversation with Rebekah after Elena left and to some of the comments Elena made. "You have done horrible things." She stated. "You killed and hurt a lot of people I cared about." Klaus swallowed thickly, he wished he could defend himself, but knew he had no defense. Caroline looked at him until he met her eyes, she seemed to be looking inside of him. Finally she spoke again. "However, you make me feel safe. I know what you are capable of, but I don't think that you would ever do what has been done to me."

"No." He whispered. "I haven't and I wouldn't."

She nodded. "I trust you." She told him. She reached out and took his hand.

"Friends, then?" He asked repeating a question from so long ago.

"Friends." She agreed and he felt his heart swell.

"Would you mind occasionally to help me sleep if I start having trouble?" She asked. "I forgot how good it felt to sleep and not wake up afraid."

"Anytime."


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Warning: This chapter has some disturbing and violent descriptions. Please read at your own risk. There is a reason I posted this as an 'M' rating.

Thank you as always for the kind words.

Chapter 7:

A bright beam of sunlight hit Caroline's eyes and pulled her from her sleep. She grumbled and turned over, burrowing herself deep in the covers her head laying on Klaus' shoulder for a pillow. She heard him chuckle. She grumbled again at his amusement.

"Don't we have a rule about laughing at me before I've had my coffee?" Her voice was muffled from the blankets.

"Really? I thought that was more of a suggestion than a rule." He commented.

A section of the blanket flipped up and she glared up at him from where she was laying. "No, it's definitely a rule." She sighed, knowing she was awake now. She climbed up from her nest and sat against the headboard. He sat up next to her.

"You really need curtains." She complained. She looked out the window and suddenly her words hit her. She was telling Klaus how to decorate his bedroom.

A thought came into her head, something that she had never considered in the past seven month.

'_What would Tyler say about this?'_

She felt her face flare bright red. She got up quickly out of bed. "I'm going to go get dressed and figure out something to make for breakfast." She said as she all but ran out of the room.

Klaus gave her a look, but didn't say anything.

Caroline ran to her room and shut the door, leaning against it heavily. Her breathing was quick and short as she fought with herself over the panic that threatened to rise up inside of her. She put her head in her hands and rubbed at her temples.

Ever since the first night Elena came to visit, when she fell asleep on Klaus in the living room, she had been spending more and more nights with him. It was never for anything more than sleep. Quite honestly, she didn't think she would ever feel desire or the urge to have sex ever again and he seemed to understand that. It was just his manner, his strength and his protectiveness that made her feel safe enough to relax and fall asleep. Most of the time, his presence alone would chase away the nightmares, she knew that sometimes they would start and he would hold her tight and that would wake her up enough to end them before they started.

A few times, she would slipped into the nightmares, back into the memories of the hell she lived through. In those cases she would suddenly be transported somewhere else. He showed her great cities, she saw the sun rise over the pyramids, she saw the moonrise over the ocean like it had in the movie. All taken from his memories or constructed in his mind for her enjoyment.

It was now the middle of February and she was finally starting to have days where she had more moments without the fear than with it. She knew she was healing and because of it she was starting to feel bored and frustrated. Also, thoughts that she refused to think about before because they were too painful were starting to creep into her consciousness. Like Tyler.

Would he have ever understood?

Then something else hit her. Something hard enough to drop her to the floor. Tyler was dead. Tyler was dead and she never mourned him.

She never mourned him.

When they….

She curled up where she lay.

….killed him.

She could hear his screams of pain and terror. She had cried and screamed along with him.

Tears ran down her face and she let out a little whimper. She dropped her head to her knees and struggled. A knock on the door behind her startled her and she darted across the room to the bed.

"Caroline?" Stefan's voice came. "Are you ok?"

"No." She moaned. The door opened and he came in.

"What is it?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"Caroline?" He questioned.

She sniffled. "Tyler's dead." She moaned.

"Oh Caroline." Stefan crossed over to her and hugged her.

"I saw them kill him." She sobbed. "And they didn't just kill him. They cut him up into pieces. They disemboweled him." She continued to sob. "They made me watch and while they made me watch they raped me." Her words were coming out in gasps. Stefan just held her tighter. "He died and in horrible pain and the last thing he saw was them violating me." She cried. At this point all control left her and she clung to Stefan loud sobs ran through her as she lost all control and her whole body shook with the force of the pain that came pouring out.

Stefan didn't say anything. There were no words that could make this better. He just sat there and rocked her holding her tight so she realized she wasn't alone.

~.~

Outside the door, Rebekah and Klaus stood. Rebekah was about to cry at the sound of Caroline's heartbreak and Klaus looked like he wanted to destroy most of Mystic Falls.

As soon as Caroline left his room in a panic, he immediately sought out his sister and Stefan. By now he knew that Caroline confided in him as much as she could, but there were some things she felt more comfortable sharing with the others. He didn't question it; he just tried to make sure she had someone available should she need it.

Stefan immediately offered to check on her since Rebekah was just finishing in the shower. Klaus had stood outside to make sure they didn't need anything when Rebekah joined him. Neither of them had expected what they heard coming from inside. It was the first time Caroline ever spoke about what happened. The first time she ever described any part of what she went through.

"We need to leave them alone." Rebekah said. She knew that if Klaus kept listening she would be hard pressed to stop him from going out and massacring half the town in his rage. He didn't move and it was obvious that he wanted to go in and help Stefan comfort her, but Rebekah pulled at his arm until he started to move. "This isn't something she can share with you."

He reluctantly followed her down to his study. He stood and stared out the window, trying to remain calm.

"Nik, this actually a very good step. She is facing what happened and is talking about it. This is going to be a big part of the healing process." He didn't say anything. "You need to be able to listen to her if she comes to you." Rebekah warned.

He sighed and turned around. "I know. I'm trying." She could see he was much more in control.

"What happened to Tyler's remains?" Rebekah asked. Klaus looked at her in surprise.

"I have no idea." He told her.

"Was he buried? Have they even given him a memorial or a tombstone?"

"Rebekah, I had others things on my mind. I don't know."

"At some point she's going to want to know." Rebekah cautioned, and then she paused. "For god's sake, you don't think Damon _left_ him there, do you?"

"We'll need to ask Elijah he was there when he went to investigate. Matt would probably know if there was a memorial." He told her dismissively.

Rebekah sighed. "If they haven't handled this, you and Stefan may need to." She told him.

Klaus let out a disbelieving laugh. "Me? Handle Tyler Lockwood's remains and memorial? Are you quite mad?"

"Nik, he's dead. You can't still be jealous of him."

"Jealousy?" Klaus leaned across the desk to glare at her. "I assure you it is much more than jealousy." He growled. "I made him a hybrid. I made him powerful and yet that boy, STILL let this happen. How could he let them be taken by five vampires? How was he not stronger than them?"

"He wasn't you!" Rebekah yelled at him. "He was a baby werewolf and an even younger Hybrid." She shook her head. "There is no way you could possibly think he didn't do everything in his power and ability to fight for her."

"I'm sure he did. He loved her." Klaus sat down at his desk almost defeated. "But it wasn't enough, was it?" He buried his head in his hands. When he looked up his eyes were bright. "I was having her watched." He admitted. "I just wanted to know how she was doing, but then Lockwood came back and I couldn't stand to hear how happy they were. So I stopped." He looked away. "If I had kept surveillance on her, this might not have happened. I may have been able to get there in time."

"Nik, you can't blame yourself for this. We can't change what happened. All we can do is be there for her now." Rebekah insisted. "This guilt won't do her any good. I think she's going to feel enough of it on her own."

"You're right." He agreed. He looked towards her. "Thank you, Sister. I appreciate you being here and all you've done for her."

"We're family, Nik. I'll always be here if you need me." With that she reached her hand across the desk. He took it and the two of them sat there just like that.

~.~

Caroline's violent sobs subsided until she was just whimpering in Stefan's arms. Finally she sat up and looked at him.

"I woke up this morning and then made some random comment to Klaus about his curtains. All of the sudden it hit me." She sniffled. "Tyler would never understand. He would never forgive me for being here, for taking comfort from Klaus of all people." Another sob escaped her. "I haven't even thought of him, Stefan. I never mourned him, I never even let myself think about how they hurt him."

"Caroline, Tyler loved you. I think he would forgive you and understand. I don't think he would want you to let them beat you, to destroy who you are. And if Klaus makes you feel safe and is helping you, then I think Tyler would be ok with that."

"Klaus murdered his mother." She all but wailed. "You really think he would be able to forgive me for sleeping with the man who murdered his mother?"

"Yes, I do." Stefan told her firmly.

She looked away. "They came up on us so quickly." She whispered. "We had stopped to get gas and there they were. They snapped both our necks before either of us knew what happened."

Stefan rubbed her back lightly. She was remembering, but not letting herself get swallowed up in the pain of it. He knew it was hard for her, but it was a good sign.

"When we came to, they had me chained to the wall. Tyler was in a cage. He changed into a wolf the first time they raped me." She swallowed. "That's how they knew what he was. They kept shooting him with vervain and wolfsbane to keep him weak. Whenever I would try to fight them, they would go and they would cut off another body part." She started crying again. "Then one day, they said I still had too much spirit. That's when they just kept going." She curled up on the bed and just cried. For hours, Stefan sat there, stroking her back, while she cried her heart out. Finally she seemed to run out of tears and she just lay there shaking slightly and occasionally getting rocked by silent sobs.

"Promise me that being here doesn't disgrace Tyler's memory?" Caroline asked in a whisper.

"I promise." Stefan told her. "This is beyond anything that happened between Tyler and Klaus before."

She lay there for a while longer. "I promise I'm not going to hurt myself." She said. "Could I be alone for a while?" Stefan looked down at her, he wanted to believe her. She looked up at him.

"I want to die Stefan." She told him honestly. "I don't want to face this anymore. Now that I'm remembering this, I feel so bad for every moment I have that I don't think about it, since it took Tyler's life." Stefan looked at her in shock, but she continued. "But for Tyler, I am going to survive this. He died for me and I'm not going to let that mean nothing." She took a deep breath and swallowed. "So, please, can I be alone for a while?"

Stefan nodded, unsure at this point what to say. "We'll be here if you need us." He finally answered her as he got up to leave, but she didn't give any sign that she heard. "We will check on you in a while." He also told her. He knew when Klaus heard all of this; they wouldn't be able to keep him away for long. With that he left the room.

He walked downstairs and found Rebekah and Klaus on the phone.

"Liz, can you arrange for the gravestone and burial site?" Rebekah was asking.

"I don't really care Damon, you will go and retrieve whatever is left of his remains and you will do it now, or I will come and take care of your remains." Klaus was all but yelling into the phone. They both finished their business and looked up at him.

Stefan looked embarrassed when he realized what was going on. "I never even thought about it." He told them.

"None of us did." Rebekah came over and gave him a tight hug. He looked terrible.

"How is she?" Klaus demanded.

"Not good." Stefan said. Klaus went to leave, but Stefan's voice stopped him. "She wants to be alone." He said.

Rebekah let go of him and he slumped onto the sofa and sighed. "She said she wants to die." She said sadly.

"And you left her alone." Klaus shouted and again went to leave, before again Stefan stopped him.

"She said she was staying alive to for Tyler." Stefan told him. "And she won't want to see you right now." Klaus turned to look at him in surprise. "She thinks Tyler would be mad at her for being here in your house and for sleeping with you." Stefan shot him a look. "You know, since you murdered his mother and all." He said in a tired voice.

Klaus jerked as if he were hit.

"Stefan!" Rebekah said shocked, at his attack.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't fair." Stefan admitted.

"No, unfortunately, it was." Klaus said. Now he looked as defeated as Stefan. "I should go. I don't want to make things harder for her." He said.

"Stop it." Rebekah snapped. "Both of you just stop it." She glared at her brother. "You aren't going anywhere." She then turned to Stefan "And I know that was hard, but taking it out on Nik isn't the answer."

"I'm sorry." Stefan said again.

"Now, I'm certain that things are going to get difficult again for the next few weeks." She looked at both of them. "Nik, she needs you. You know you are the one she feels the safest with and while she probably does feel bad about that, we all know Tyler would have wanted her to survive and to live, so she will continue to need you. If you abandon her now it will only make it worse."

Klaus looked doubtful, but nodded.

"I told her we would be checking in on her." Stefan offered.

"I'll go check on her in an hour or two." Rebekah sighed. "We should probably call Liz and tell her what we've found out."

"Did she give you any information as to who might be behind this?" Klaus asked and you could hear the eagerness for violence in his voice.

"No." Stefan said and Klaus slumped back. "She said they never saw them coming, they broke their necks and just took them. When the realized what Tyler was they kept shooting him with vervain and wolfsbane." Stefan shook his head. "You heard her say they made her watch them kill him?" Both of them nodded. "They also made Tyler watch them rape and torture her." This time, to his credit, Klaus maintained calm. Inside, he was raging, but on the outside he just nodded. "That's why she is determined to stay alive for him, to prove they didn't beat her." He finished.

Klaus stayed silent. Every instinct he had was telling him to leave. He was bad for her, his presence caused her more pain. He needed to go rip and tear and cause as much damage and chaos as possible. His heart broke for her and everything she had been through, he felt so helpless that he was unable to take her pain.

Then there was the last thought, the selfish thought, which even though he tried to shut it down, shut it up, it kept whispering in his ear.

She would never have a place for him in her heart with the ghost of the noble and tortured Tyler Lockwood living there.

It was that thought, the shame of it, worrying about himself while she was hurting this much that made him stand up. "I'm going to hunt." He announced.

Stefan and Rebekah looked worried. But right now he couldn't offer them any assurances. He just knew he needed to go, to get away.

~.~

For several weeks, silence reigned in the house. Caroline had retreated into herself, almost to the point she had been at when she first came back to herself. They all tried to talk to her and to pull her out, but she was mainly non verbal, answering specific questions with as little words as possible. She stayed in her room for the most part, not wanting to venture out into the house. Klaus took that as a sign he needed to stay away, and didn't invade her space at all. Occasionally, she would come down to the kitchen for a blood bag and he saw her then, but she wouldn't look up and meet his eyes.

It was torture for him. He felt like a ghost himself. He lived in his own house, but he couldn't affect any change for the person he cared about the most. He was just about to give up and ignore his sister's advice and leave.

Then late one night he sat in the living room, in front of the fire, sketching. Of course the subject was Caroline. It was always Caroline. He heard and noise and looked up. There she stood in the doorway. At first he thought he must be imagining her. He had done that a lot recently, but then he knew, it was her.

She had on her comfy sweats, her red hair was back in a messy bun. He could see her eyes were red from crying and she looked exhausted and pale.

"Caroline?" He questioned. She didn't answer, she just stared at him for a few moments, and then she seemed to make up her mind and came into the room. She still didn't say anything; she just sat down in the other chair in front of the fireplace and curled herself up into a ball. She didn't look at him and she still didn't speak. Klaus held his breath, just waiting. Several minutes went by. He exhaled, but she still didn't even look at him. Finally, realizing she wasn't going to speak, he just went back to his sketching. He looked up after a while and saw that she had fallen asleep. He left her alone like that for a couple of hours, he stared at her. Drinking her in. It had been so long since he was near her and he had missed her terribly. Eventually, he knew that he had to get her up to bed. She would be uncomfortable and stiff if she stayed like that. He debated with himself for a while, about whether or not to wake her, but then he put his sketchbook aside and went and picked her up.

He carried her up the stairs and to her bed, laying her down gently so she wouldn't wake up. When he pulled back he saw her eyes were open, but she didn't seem upset.

"Please stay with me." She whispered.

He climbed in next to her and she immediately wrapped her arms around him holding him tight. A little sigh escaped her and there was a sniffle.

"I think he would understand." She whispered and he could hear the tears in her voice. He closed his eyes in pain, but didn't answer; he just pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her head. A single tear slid across his cheek.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: So the last chapter was supposed to go completely different, but Tyler wanted to be acknowledged and I thought he deserved that. I was going to add more to the end, but that seemed like a good stopping point and to add more would take away from the entire tone. As a result this chapter is quite long.**

**Most of your questions will be answered with this one. This story is almost finished. Two more chapters, and an Epilogue.**

**Be warned there is more violence and torture in this chapter.**

Chapter 8:

Winter began to fade into Spring. Robins appeared and the trees started to bud with new life. Caroline slowly came back to where she had been, before her breakdown over Tyler, and the house settled into a new routine.

Caroline signed up for online classes, wanting to eventually continue her education. She also reestablished her relationship with Elena, both of them learning how to be friends again. They had a 'girls night' about twice a month. Caroline even started to venture outside the house, taking walks around the property with Klaus close by her side.

The first time she left the house, she looked around at the trees and birds as if she never saw them before, then tilted her face up to the sun and closed her eyes, just soaking it in as if it was long forgotten friend. Klaus burned that image into his memory and it became one of his favorite things to draw, the look of pleasure on her face as she absorbed the light.

Evenings were spent with everyone gathered in the living room. Sometimes Caroline would be studying while the others watched TV, or Klaus would read to her. Rebekah and Stefan were always there, sometimes bickering, but as she watched their relationship grow, Caroline felt nothing but happiness for them, even as she knew she would never again have that kind of relationship.

As things settled into a routine, Caroline slowly began to talk about her captivity. There would be different triggers. Some would be obvious, like the night they were watching TV, just some random Tom and Jerry cartoons that Stefan was trying to convince Rebekah were 'brilliant', when an ad for Barbie came on. Caroline froze at the lap top she was working at and just stared at the TV. The others looked at her, worriedly.

"I think they followed us from school." She said, her eyes never left the TV. "They must have heard Damon call me Barbie. The youngest one was obsessed with that. Then it became a game to them. To train me to sing that song." A look of disgust came over her face. "They wouldn't hurt me as bad if I sang it. They would make me sing it for food. At first I wouldn't do it, even when the punishments were so horrible." She started to shake. "But it hurt so much and I was so hungry." A tear ran down her face. "After a while, I would do it automatically, like a prayer to keep them from hurting me, but by then they had lost interest and just thought it was funny."

Rebekah stood up and walked over to her and just hugged her.

"They took everything I was. They made me ask for things. They made me beg." Caroline whispered.

"But you came back." Rebekah told her. "They did everything they could to you and you still came back."

Caroline closed her eyes, whether she was aware of her tears was uncertain. She nodded at Rebekah that she understood.

That night she cried herself to sleep as Klaus held her. Once she was out, he slipped out and went into the woods to hunt, needing to release the anger he held inside. Rebekah watched over Caroline, in case she woke while he was out.

~.~

Liz still came over frequently for dinner to spend time with her daughter. One night, after they finished eating, Liz pulled Stefan and Klaus into his study.

"I had a visit from the Forestry Department today." She commented.

They gave her a confused look. "They are concerned we have a problem with wolves in the forest. Apparently, our deer population has almost been completely wiped out. The thing they are most worried about is that the deer aren't being eaten, just slaughtered in the woods."

Stefan looked at Klaus, who just shrugged. "I believe I was forbidden from snacking on your townspeople." He said dismissively.

Liz sighed. "I didn't think you would destroy and entire eco system."

Klaus glared at her. "Until I find out who is responsible for this, I need to do something to calm this anger, I don't want it to come out around Caroline." He told her.

"I hear yoga is wonderful for centering the soul." Liz snapped.

"Liz, he's doing the best he can." Stefan defended him.

"Well, the best he can has led the Forestry service to set up cameras and post men in the woods at night to try and catch the wolves. What happens if they find you?"

At Klaus' eager look, she her glared at him. "You will NOT kill them." She warned. "These are good men, just trying to do their job."

"Fine." Klaus ground out. "I will be more careful and hunt farther away."

Liz nodded and left.

Stefan sat there with him. "I know this is getting harder for you." He commented.

"I know it's good for her to talk about it and get it out, but every time I have to hear more about what those bastards did to her." Klaus took a few deep breaths. "I just want to bring them back to kill them over and over again."

"I know. But Liz is right; you need to find another way to calm yourself down."

Klaus turned his glare to Stefan. "I'm sorry, unlike you and Rebekah, I don't have the option of fucking like bunnies." He snapped.

At that Rebekah entered the room, curious as to what the Sheriff wanted. "Excuse me?"

"Apparently, Klaus had destroyed Mystic Falls' deer population with his blood lust and needs to find another outlet for his rage."

"And our sex life has what to do with this?"

"I told him he needed to find another outlet. Liz suggested yoga." Stefan told her.

"Its not actually a bad idea." Rebekah said thoughtfully.

"Yoga?" Klaus asked incredulously.

"No, sex." Rebekah clarified. "You could go out, meet someone. You used to be pretty good and picking up women."

Klaus walked up to her. "You think I'm going out to pick up some whore while Caroline is struggling?"

"Are you going to be a monk for the rest of your life waiting for her to recover?" Rebekah countered. "I'm not suggesting a relationship; I'm suggesting a one night stand."

"Enough." Klaus got up to leave the room and this conversation. "I already told the Sheriff I wouldn't hunt so close to town." He walked into the living room and found Caroline on the sofa.

"They are right you know." She said, staring at the TV. He stopped and stared out her. "You should get out." She got a small sad smile on her face. "Meet a girl, have a relationship."

Klaus gaped at her. He grasped for something to say, but had no idea what.

She finally looked up and met his eyes, but couldn't keep contact and dropped them. "She's gone, Klaus. The girl I was, the one you loved, she's gone. I appreciate everything you do for me, but I don't want you to stop living for me."

"Caroline," Klaus finally found his voice. "Do you recall me going out to pick up women the entire time I lived here? Did it really ever seem like it was a top priority?"

"Well, Henry had to come from somewhere." She commented.

He sat down heavily on the couch. His irritation at his sister and Stefan were foremost in his mind. That Caroline overheard them and now they were having this conversation made him very uncomfortable.

"I highly doubt I will find anyone worth spending time with in Mystic Falls." He tried again. "And I have no interest in any type of romantic attachment." He told her, but knew that was a lie. He would give anything to be with her. With a shock, he realized he'd even give up his immortality to be with her.

It was obvious she heard his lie. She raised her eyes to meet his and this time didn't look away. "He told them to kill me." She said. "After he got everything out of me, he told them to kill me, but they didn't. They wanted to keep me for a pet. After it was clear they didn't need me anymore, they got more brutal. Eventually, all I knew was to obey and please them." Her voice broke, and her eyes got bright, but she didn't look away. "I never thought it would end. All I knew was that life, to serve them. It got to the point where they didn't have to force me, I just did what was expected automatically." He felt tears burn in his own eyes. He wanted to ask who 'he' was. He wanted to demand a name to have an outlet for all this helplessness that he felt, but he knew this was hard for her and he didn't want to interrupt. "I became their whore, their pet." Caroline said. Her voice was defeated with that admission. "They broke me." Finally she closed her eyes and the tears leaked out. Klaus grabbed her hands and she squeezed them tight. After a few minutes she got herself together and opened her eyes to look at him again. "Even if there comes a day where I don't remember that every second of every day, there will never come a day where I could allow anyone to touch me again. I couldn't ever separate what happened with a possible romance. The thought of desire or lust makes me want to rip my own skin off." She told him sadly. "I'll never be whole again."

He couldn't stand it any longer, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, but she didn't relax against him the way she normally did. She held herself stiff in his arms. "I don't want you to give up living for me." She insisted again. "Not for a dead girl and certainly not for a damaged girl."

He sighed. "If I ever meet someone who holds my interest, I promise to chase after them whole heartedly." He told her, but he knew that there would never be anyone else but her. "As for going out for a quick fling, I'm a thousand years old Caroline, not a hormonal teenager, I can assure you I've gone much longer without sex and I have no desire to go out shopping for a fling."

She relaxed against him. "Ok." She said sniffling. Klaus hesitated.

"I understand your feelings, and while I can't begin to imagine what they put you through or even what it was like to lose yourself like that, you are a strong remarkable person. It may seem, right now, like you will never be able to have a physical relationship, but don't discount the possibility." He stopped. "I'm not saying it has to be with me, either." He rushed to assure her. "You may find someone, who sweeps you off your feet and just their presence allows you to relax and feel pleasure again." The last sentence tasted like ash in his mouth, but he meant it. If she found someone she could be whole with, he would let her go, no matter the cost to his own heart. She didn't answer him and he knew she was thinking that it was impossible.

"Caroline?" He asked after a long silence. "Who is the 'he' you spoke of? Who ordered them to kill you?" He asked as gently as he could.

She ripped herself away from him and flew to the other end of the couch. It was obvious she didn't realize when she had been talking that she had referred to the man behind her kidnapping.

"No." She said.

"Caroline…" The fear in her eyes was different than any he had seen before. It wasn't the panic and terror it usually was and it didn't seem to be directed out. It seemed to be directed at him.

"No, please Klaus." She begged. "Please, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to be alone."

He stared at her in shock. "Caroline you won't be alone. We're here. We're not going to leave you."

She swallowed thickly. "Please. Please not yet. I'll tell you, I will. I just can't, not yet."

"Ok, ok." He soothed her. He reached for her again and this time she clung to him. "Its ok, you don't have to talk about it yet, if you don't want to." Inside he wondered, what had her so afraid. Why did she think she'd be alone once she told them who did this? Was it Damon? Was she afraid that he would take her again?

Klaus needed to call Elijah. His brother had satisfied himself that Hayley was safe; he needed him to come back and tell him everything Damon Salvatore had said. Klaus really wanted to know what happened and who was behind this. Whoever caused this would take centuries to die.

~.~

Spring faded into Summer and the year anniversary of the kidnapping came and went. No one mentioned it, Caroline got a bit quieter, but she seemed to be dealing much better with what had happened. While she could talk in generalizations about what had happened, Rebekah was the only one who knew the details of what happened. Being another female, she was the only one Caroline felt comfortable talking with. They had regular therapy sessions about twice a week. Caroline would tell her the ways they tortured and raped her. She would recount the ways they debased her. Rebekah always remained calm and supportive during the sessions, but afterwards she would curl up in Stefan's arms and cry herself out with pain for what Caroline suffered though. Caroline would seek out Klaus after her sessions. Usually they didn't talk, he would be reading, or drawing and she would just need to be close to him, soaking up his strength as if it could return her strength to her.

One night in early Summer, Klaus woke up to a loud crack of thunder. Immediately he noticed Caroline was gone. He searched the house, but couldn't find her anywhere. Terrified she had done something, or had left he threw open the front door. Just then, as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, he saw her. She was standing far out in the yard, away from the house. The wind whipped her hair around her and the rain pelted her. Another bolt of lightning struck and he heard her yelling, screaming out her pain into the storm.

He wanted to go to her and wrap her in his arms, but knew she needed this. Instead he stood there and watched as she railed at Mother Nature. The storm didn't last long, probably just a half an hour and as it moved on, he watched her fall to her knees, her rage passed and her pain now her only companion. He grabbed one of his coats from next to the door and flashed across the yard to her. He wrapped the coat tight around her and held her while she sobbed. When she calmed, he picked her up and carried her inside. He found towels and took care to dry her off. She didn't speak, but he sensed she was much calmer than she had been. After she was dry, they lay back down.

"Elijah arrives this week." She spoke up.

"On Thursday." He said.

"Maybe we could all go out to dinner while he's here." She said.

It would be the first time she left the property in almost a year.

"We could do that." He immediately agreed.

"Nothing fancy." She clarified. "Maybe just the Grill, someplace familiar?"

"All right." He said.

She sighed and snuggled in next to him. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

~.~

Friday evening came and everyone was getting ready for an evening out for dinner. Liz had to work, but was going to meet them as soon as she got done. Matt was bartending, unable to take off on a Friday, but he would be there.

Rebekah and Caroline were getting ready. Caroline had asked Rebekah for help, because she didn't feel comfortable in most of her 'nice' clothes anymore, finding them to revealing for her comfort, but she wanted to look nice. So the girls had been locked upstairs for a while.

Klaus, Stefan and Elijah were in the study drinking scotch. Klaus was more nervous than any of them, it seemed.

"It is amazing the progress you've made." Elijah commented. "I never imagined you'd get this far."

"She came this far." Klaus corrected him. "We were just here for support."

Elijah nodded. "Still, its quite remarkable."

"This is a huge step." Klaus muttered. "Should I go to the Grill and see what the crowd is like? Compel them to keep it low key?"

Stefan chuckled. "I don't think that will be necessary, the Grill doesn't usually have a rough biker crowd."

"I just want her to be comfortable." Klaus stated.

"Brother, she's been to the Grill before, she knows what to expect."

Klaus sighed and resumed pacing. They heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Klaus looked up expectantly. Rebekah entered first, followed by Caroline.

She had on a modest forest green blouse and a pair of jeans. She had on a bit of lip gloss, but no other make up and her red hair was styled naturally as it fell to her shoulders. Klaus wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked, but knew it would make her uncomfortable.

"You look nice." He settled for commenting lightly, but he was certain his eyes gave him away because of how she flushed and looked down.

"Are we ready?" Rebekah asked to diffuse the situation.

"All set." Stefan told her and walked over and took her hand. As they left, Caroline stood next to Klaus. She took his hand and deep breath as they left the house. Caroline sat in the back between Elijah and Klaus while Stefan drove. When they arrived at the Grill, she looked nervous, but not panicked. Matt had a table reserved for them set back away from most of the activity.

As they took their seats, Caroline looked around frequently as if assuring herself that there was no one and nothing there that would attack her. She clung to Klaus' hand tightly, but managed to keep up polite conversation with the others.

Dinner went well, they were almost finished when a voice interrupted them. "Caroline?"

Caroline looked up to see Elena. Her eyes warmed at her friend.

"Elena." She greeted her.

"Its so good to see you." Elena said. "You look really good."

"Thank you." Caroline told her. Just then Damon walked up behind Elena and Caroline stiffened. Klaus noticed immediately and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well, well." Damon commented. "Looks like an Original Family reunion." He looked at Stefan. "Hello brother. Long time, no talk. You never call, you never visit."

"Sorry, Damon I've been a bit busy." Stefan said dryly, there was a warning tone in his voice.

"Ah yes, and actually you have been by to see me. Whenever Elena goes to visit Caroline, you come over to make sure I'm going to behave." Caroline looked down at her plate. "Apparently, someone," Damon looked at Klaus. "Thinks I'm the big bad in all of this. Kind of ironic when you think about it. I'm sure your body count is much higher than mine."

"Is there something you wanted Damon?" Klaus growled. "Or were just needing attention?"

Damon noticed that Caroline was gripping Klaus' hand and scoffed. "I'm just wondering why you think I'm behind what happened, when you are the one who has gained the most. Seems like you've got her wrapped around your finger, literally." Caroline gasped and Klaus was up from the table and had Damon by the throat and outside before any of them could process.

"Son of a bitch." Stefan said before taking off after them. The others followed suit.

They found them in an alley Klaus had a broken a piece off a crate and was about to stake Damon, who while looking scared, still didn't have enough sense to keep his mouth shut.

"You think I didn't know why Elijah kept coming over? You think I did this?" Damon growled.

"I'm certain you were behind it, I just want to know why before I kill you."

Caroline stood frozen her eyes wide. Elena and Rebekah ran up to them.

"Nik, I don't think Damon did this." She warned.

"He didn't, Klaus." Elena yelled. "He wouldn't do this."

"I don't believe that." Klaus growled and pulled back his arm to stake the younger vampire. Damon's eyes got wide and Stefan and Elijah moved to stop him, but it was Caroline who made Klaus freeze.

"He didn't do it." She cried desperately. "It wasn't Damon." Klaus turned his head to look at her. She looked so fragile standing there all by herself. "It wasn't Damon." She repeated. Her face crumbled. "I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything, just let him go."

Rebekah walked over to her. "Caroline?"

"Its all over." Caroline whispered. Rebekah wrapped an arm around her and Caroline rested her head on the other girl's shoulder. "Its all over." Caroline all but moaned.

~.~

"I called Liz. She is on her way." Stefan told Klaus and Elijah. ."I thought she would want to be here and I didn't know if Caroline would want to tell this story twice."

They had come back to the house. Elena had wanted to come with them, but a look from Klaus had stopped her. Caroline wouldn't look at Klaus or come near him and he cursed himself for losing control like that. He forced her into revealing what had happened and felt awful for it

"Do you really think it's a good idea to force her to relive this in front of all of us?" Klaus glared. His anger at himself coming out at the others.

"She wants us all there." Rebekah told him.

"I think it will be good to have her family and friends around her." Stefan said. "It should make her feel safer, if we are all there."

Elijah stared at his brother. "I do wonder if it is wise for Niklaus to be there." He commented lightly. Klaus spun and glared at his brother.

"What exactly does that mean?" He snapped.

"It means exactly what I said." Elijah replied calmly. "Look at yourself, even before she begins talking you are a ball of violent energy. You look like you are ready to fight the world. What is going to happen when she begins to describe the details of her kidnapping and who was behind it? Are you going to be able to sit there and hear her out?"

Klaus opened his mouth to answer his brother, but stopped. He gaped at him for several seconds as he realized the full extent of what he was asking him. Was he ready to hear this? He turned away from them and walked over to the window facing out towards the road. He stared out blankly as his mind raced.

Suddenly Rebekah was next to him. "Nik, I know how you feel about Caroline." She shot her oldest brother a look of reprimand. "This is going to be very hard. I don't know what she is going to tell us or why it has her scared like she is, but you will need to remain calm. Its ok to feel anger at what was done for her, but you also need to make sure you remain calm, so she doesn't think that your anger is directed at her or that it distracts from what she needs to face. Its going to be very hard for her, if her level of fear is any indication. Any excuse, or reason for her not to face this, would not be good. Do you understand?" She told him gently.

Klaus nodded. "If she thinks its upsetting me too much, she may use that as an excuse to not talk about it." He said in a monotone voice.

Rebekah placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've been wonderful with her. You've been so supportive and patient, but this is also going to be one of the hardest things you have ever had to face, as well. The one thing you need to remember is, at this time, there is nothing you can do to change what has happened. Even if you find out who did this to her, running out right now to kill and torture them won't be for Caroline. She'll need you here. She'll need you to be strong for her."

Klaus straightened up and the defeated and worried look left his eyes and they were filled with determination. He smiled at his sister. "Thank you." He told her.

She didn't say anything, just smiled back. Elijah watched all this inscrutably, but the doubt was still lurking in his eyes. Klaus turned and met his brother's eyes defiantly. Stefan quickly interrupted before an argument could start.

"Liz should be here any moment. We should go back in." The two brothers continued to stare at each other for several seconds more, before Elijah gave in and dropped his eyes with a sigh.

The entered back into the living room, Caroline sat in the middle of the large sofa with Matt next to her. Matt had left work, wanting to be here. Rebekah actually compelled another waitress to take his place. Caroline looked up when they entered, when her eyes met Klaus' they showed fear and worry. He quickly crossed the room and knelt down in front of her and took her hand lightly. "It's ok. It's all going to be fine. I know this is going to be hard for you, but I think you'll feel better after you get it out." She looked at him, but if anything her fear and worry seemed to grow. She squeezed his hand tight, as if she could draw out some of his strength through the contact.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice sounded so lost.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." He soothed her. He ran the fingertips of his other hand across her forehead and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. He smiled at her warmly. "I'm going to be right over there if you need me ok?" The truth was he wanted to be right next to her offering her his strength, but keeping Rebekah's warnings in mind, he thought maybe some distance would be good. His anger was something he knew lurked inside him and it was made sharper by his feeling of helplessness. He wanted to shield her from it as much as possible.

She nodded and squeezed his hand one more time almost desperately before releasing him. He stood up and moved to the other side of the room where his favorite chair sat next to the fireplace. He didn't see the almost desperate and fearful look on Caroline's face as he walked away and she bit her lip in worry.

Matt, sitting next to her, noticed as did the other vampires in the room and they all exchanged confused looks.

"Hey, Caroline." Matt said. "Its all right. No one here is going to judge you." She turned her eyes away from Klaus' back just as he turned at the sound of Matt's voice. She looked concerned, but before she could say anything they heard the door open and her mother walked into the room quickly.

"Hey sweetie." She greeted her daughter and sat down next to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders in a show of support. The worry in Caroline's eyes dimmed slightly.

"Mom." Liz came over and sat on the other side of her. She wrapped her arms around her shoulder.

Caroline took a deep breath and steadied herself. She shot one more fearful look at Klaus before taking a deep breath.

"I guess you have all heard by now a lot of what happened." She began. "They took us the night we left. We never saw them coming." She paused. "At first, we didn't know why we were there." She stopped and looked confused. "How long did they have me?" She asked.

Liz sighed. "Almost six weeks."

Caroline closed her eyes. "I had no concept of time." She whispered. She shook herself and forced her eyes open. "At first we didn't know why we were there. They just tortured us and raped me. They made certain we saw what they were doing to the other. Sometimes they would say if we behaved better they wouldn't hurt us as much, but they always did." Her eyes got distant and they could see she was reliving it again. No one moved or breathed, just waiting. "After they killed Tyler, they got more brutal with me. The silent one was the worst, but I could tell he was holding back. There would be times, when he was…." She faltered, but forced herself to go on. "when he was inside of me." Her voice was thick, "that I could see the madness in his eyes, but his brothers seemed to see it to. They would pull him off me and tell him that they needed me to be able to answer questions for when 'he' came." She sighed. "I don't know how much time went by, how long I was there, then one day, 'he' came."

Caroline looked over to Klaus again. Her face started to crumple. Not understanding, her mother hugged her tight. "Its ok. You are safe here. 'He' can't get you here."

Caroline looked away from everyone, for a few long moments she didn't say anything. Then she continued on. "He was handsome and very clean. I remember thinking how clean he was. And he had this bright smile, with these bright white teeth. He had the smile of a game show host." Tears leaked out of her eyes. "He said he was sorry this was happening to me, but 'she' had told him that I was the key to winning the war."

Elijah stood up straight and exchanged startled looks with Rebekah. They both looked to Klaus, but he stared straight ahead, as still as a statue.

Caroline took a deep breath. "His name was Marcel…"

"Oh my god!" Rebekah gasped. Caroline continued on, as if she didn't hear.

"He had a girl with him, she was young. Her name was Davina."

"Oh my god." Rebekah moaned again. Elijah looked sick. Klaus didn't move a muscle.

Liz and Matt looked at them alarmed and Stefan wrapped his arms around Rebekah, who was crying now. Caroline just continued on.

"He told me I must have the secret, the way of defeating Klaus, of making sure he left his city and didn't come back."

No one said anything.

"I told him I didn't know anything I asked him to let me go. I told him, I was just a baby vampire, but he said Davina was never wrong. Then he started questioning me and while he did, they hurt me." She cried. "I didn't tell him anything, I just kept saying I didn't know anything, but they wouldn't stop." She sobbed. "They stopped before, but now, they just kept going and going. Finally I told them everything I knew. I told them about the white oak stake, I told them about the daggers, I told them how to make hybrids. I told them everything just wanting it to stop. But it wasn't enough." Caroline was crying so hard she could barely speak. Rebekah and Elijah just stared at Klaus, but he didn't breathe, he didn't move. He just sat there, staring straight ahead, his face was a mask.

"He kept asking me where the stake was. Where the daggers were, but I didn't know. And they just kept hurting me." She tried to calm herself down, but seemed to realize that wasn't going to happen. "Finally he brought the girl into it. He said I had one last chance, but I told him I didn't know anymore." Caroline let out a moan. "Then she got into my head. It wasn't like Silas, where you didn't realize it. This was presence in my mind going through every thought and every memory I had. Whenever she would find something painful, or hurtful, she would push it at me, so all I could feel was pain and guilt while she rifled through my mind like it was a filing cabinet and all the while they kept hurting me. I had nowhere to go, I just wanted to die. I kept screaming and begging for them to kill me, but it just went on and on." She sobbed uncontrollably. "Finally, I passed out. When I came to, Marcel was furious. He said that this was a waste of time. They had more information, but nothing they could really use. He told them to kill me, make sure I was never found and left." She sniffled. "But they didn't kill me, they kept me, trained me." For several long moments Caroline just sobbed, then she finally looked over at Klaus who still hadn't moved. "I'm sorry." She cried. "I told them everything. I didn't want to. I just couldn't take it. I'm so sorry."

In a flash, Klaus was up and out of the room and out of the house. When the door slammed shut, Caroline let out a heartbreaking wail. Elijah and Stefan exchanged a look and then they were out the door behind him. Rebekah ran across the room to sit in front of Caroline. Liz and Matt were both crying at this point to, but none of them could calm Caroline's cries.

"He hates me." She sobbed. "I betrayed him and he hates me." Rebekah tried to sooth her and calm her down, but no one could get through to her.

~.~

Klaus had his hand on his car door when his brother shouted. "Niklaus, NO!" He bellowed and tackled him from behind. Klaus growled up at him, his eyes were bright yellow and the veins were out.

"GET OFF ME!" He roared, throwing Elijah several feet back.

Stefan planted himself in front of the car door. "No." He stated. "You are not running from this." He insisted.

"Get out of my way." Klaus growled. "Marcel will pay for this!" He screamed.

"Yes, he will." Elijah stood up and came close to try and stop him if he reached for the door again. "But not today, not now."

"Who are you to tell me 'no'?" Klaus turned to his brother.

"That girl inside needs you!" Elijah yelled. "She thinks she let you down, that she betrayed you."

"No one needs me." Klaus snapped. "In case you missed the moral of that story, this happened because of ME!"

"Niklaus, I told you not to get involved with this. I told you, you couldn't handle it. Now that girl is dependent on you. If you leave now, it will be worse for her!"

Klaus was breathing heavy and it was obvious he wanted to rip his brother's throat out to get him to stop talking; instead he turned from them both and screamed as loud as he could. He roared into the night.

"You can't go." Stefan said as his roar died down. "You can't leave like this. You owe it to Caroline to go in and face her." Klaus was still breathing heavy.

"I caused this." He said, there was so much pain and guilt in his voice. "My actions caused this."

"After everything Caroline has been through, you owe it to her to face that." Stefan said gently.

Klaus turned to face them. They could easily see the pain and guilt on his features. "I caused this." He whispered. They didn't say anything just watched him. Klaus looked towards the house. "You're right." He finally said and he started moving back inside.

**A/N 2: So there you have it. Marcel was the one behind it all. I believe some people already guessed that so I hope it wasn't too anticlimactic. I already have the next chapter written, so it should go up tomorrow eve. As always, thank you for love. Let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

He walked back into the house with purpose. Stefan and Elijah were right, he had to face this, face the consequences of his actions. As he shut the door he swallowed thickly several times, it felt like his heart was in his throat, choking him.

For a moment he felt the overpowering urge to run again, to flee. How could he face her knowing that he was the cause of her destruction? He destroyed the only thing in this world he ever loved. True, he loved his siblings, but his love for Caroline was so much more… and he destroyed her.

That knowledge pounded against his mind and threatened his sanity. The only thing that allowed him to begin moving again was the fact that he had to face her. He had to let her condemn him for what he did. He deserved her wrath and hatred.

He walked to his study and once there, reached behind a book to access a hidden safe. He pulled out a dagger coated in white oak ash that he had stored there. If it weren't for the fact that it would mean the destruction of his entire line, he would hand her the white oak stake to act out her revenge.

He walked into the living room, but found only Liz and Matt sitting there. Liz was still crying from hearing the details of Caroline's capture and Matt's eyes were red, as well. They looked up at his entrance and there were twin looks of accusation and disappointment on their faces. However, whatever they saw in his face seemed to change their minds as their looks turned to pity. It only increased his misery.

Maybe allowing her to dagger him was too kind. Maybe he should let Liz torture him for a while or turn himself over to Marcel and let him torture him. Marcel had obviously excelled and surpassed him in cruelty over the years. Although Klaus didn't think any torture could hurt worse than his awareness of causing Caroline's torment.

"Rebekah took her upstairs." Liz's voice interrupted his self flagellation. He saw her eyes flicker to the dagger in his hands, but he turned from her before she could ask him any questions.

Stefan and Elijah returned just as he reached the stairs. Elijah also saw the dagger in his hands and his eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but Stefan stopped him with a hand on his arm.

Klaus didn't even acknowledge them, just continued upstairs. Stefan understood. He understood that Klaus deserved to be put down for this. Because of him a beautiful creature of light and laughter had died. He killed the angel he once hoped would bring him the peace and happiness he so desperately sought. The fact that she did indeed still live and was getting better, brought little comfort. No matter how much she improved, she would never be the creature she once was, because of him. While he could admire her strength and fortitude and see more majesty in her now, it didn't excuse the sin of tarnishing her innocent youth.

He ascended the stairs one at a time. With every step his dread increased to the point that if he slowed he was afraid his legs would give out. He was glad he didn't need to breathe because he felt like his throat had completely closed up.

He approached the door, he could hear Rebekah inside speaking softly, but he didn't attempt to try to hear the words she spoke. For a time, all he could do was stare at the swirling patterns of wood grain on the door. His thoughts swirled in the same patterns over and over again. He saw Caroline standing in front of him only a two years before, defiant, glorious, shining. Then he thought about the broken creature he found in the basement of the Salvatore's. He had seen the evidence of his destruction before, but never like this. Never in a way that affected him personally. He didn't know how to face Caroline, but he knew he had to. She deserved her revenge.

He stared at his hand, as it seemed to move on its own as it rose up to knock. It shook under the strain of his emotions.

He heard his sister call out "come in" and he stared blankly at the door knob as if he couldn't understand how it worked. He wasn't sure how long he stared at it, trying to force himself to move when the door opened from the other side. Rebekah stared at him, but he refused to look up and meet her eyes. He didn't want to see the same look he had seen on Matt and Liz's face. He heard her sigh, but she didn't say anything and then she slipped around him and he heard her footsteps head down stairs.

Using the last bit of courage and strength he possessed he forced himself to look up at Caroline. She sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the wall. Her eyes were glassy and he could see shudders run through her at the silent sobs she was trying to hold in. He drank in the sight of her, even like this she looked so regal sitting there. A tragic, broken queen who had been promised the world and instead was soaked in blood for sins she didn't commit.

He moved towards her, forcing his feet to continue on. He saw her wince slightly at the sound of his steps.

He made it to a few feet in front of her before all his strength left him and his emotions completely overwhelmed him. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees in front of her. The pain, guilt and despair came out of him in an inarticulate moan and all he could do was kneel at her feet, sobbing as he offered her up the dagger. She turned her head and looked at him; her eyes were wide with confusion and alarm.

"I'm sorry." He gasped out. "I'm so sorry." He pushed the dagger, lying across his open palms towards her. Her eyes widened with realization.

"No." She breathed out. She snatched the dagger out of his hands and tossed it carelessly behind her on the bed, before falling to her knees in front of him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. "No Klaus."

This made him feel even worse and he lost what tiny bit of control he had left. He clung to her like a child, sobs racking his body until they both shook from the violence of them. "I caused this." He cried. "They hurt you because of me. It's all my fault."

He felt her stroke his hair and he could hear the tears in her own voice. "No, you didn't do this." She whispered.

"It's my fault." He insisted. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't…." He sobbed out. "They wouldn't…"He couldn't get the words out. "Caroline, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He heard her sob in response. He wrenched himself away from her, out of her arms. He couldn't seek comfort from her. He needed to face what he'd done, face her. Tears ran down her face and sadness radiated from her entire body, but there was no hatred, no disgust in her eyes. Instead she looked at him with empathy.

"Caroline, I don't want or deserve your forgiveness, but I do want you to know how sorry I am. There is nothing that can ever make up for the pain that you have suffered for me, but I give myself over to you. Dagger me, have me tortured, anything that may ease your pain to exact your revenge."

She reached out and cupped his face in her hands. "Klaus, no. You didn't do this. Yes, they did this to get to you, but it's not your fault. You didn't kill Tyler, you didn't torture me, and you didn't rape me." He shook and ducked his head at the word rape, shame and guilt boiling inside of him. "No, listen to me, please." She begged. "I don't blame you. I never blamed you, not even when it was happening. I was so afraid you'd think I was weak when I cracked. I did crack, if I had known anything more, I would have told them what they wanted, just to make it stop." She was crying harder now. "Then I lost myself and…and…" She couldn't continue.

"No, never." He swore. "I could never think you were weak, not after what you endured." He wiped stray hair out of her face. "I think you are the most amazing creature I have ever seen." He whispered and his face crumbled again as tears overtook him. Caroline leaned forward until their foreheads were touching as they knelt there on the ground, both of them crying out their pain.

~.~

In his agitation, Klaus had not closed the door behind him when he entered Caroline's room, because of this the vampires downstairs had no trouble hearing what was going on above them. Rebekah had started crying again in sympathy with both of their pain as she explained to Liz what was going on. Matt had moved across the room and was staring out the window. Elijah stood by the fireplace looking very disturbed and uncomfortable.

Stefan rubbed Rebekah's back lightly to let her know he was here for her and then crossed over to Elijah. "Are you all right?" He asked him.

"I had no idea." Elijah said. "I truly didn't think my brother was capable." He admitted. Stefan said nothing, just watched him closely for him to continue. After taking a moment, Elijah motioned for Stefan to follow him into the study.

They went in and Elijah closed the door and motioned for Stefan to have a seat. Elijah began speaking.

"When we were human, my brother suffered cruelly at the hands of my father. Mikael always knew Klaus wasn't his and made sure to punish him for that crime, severely. My sister is aware of this as a fact, but she never had to witness the abuse first hand and she never had to clean Niklaus up after Mikael's attacks on him." Elijah walked over to the desk and stared down at it for a moment. "I was the oldest, I should have stepped in, I should have done something, but I didn't, I allowed it to continue. We were all so different then. The world was different then." He was silent for a moment, lost in his memories. "After we were turned, I could see firsthand how Mikael's treatment affected Niklaus. It led to his feelings of isolation, his need for power and strength, and his determination to control everything to the point of cruelty himself. By then, even though it was too late and the damage had been done, I tried to be there for my brother. I tried to bring out his humanity, but never with any success. I watched for a thousand years as he grew colder and more ruthless. I would never admit it to him, but I was afraid of what he would eventually become, which is why I made the deal with Elena in the first place to help her kill him when he wanted to break the curse."

"A deal which you then broke." Stefan couldn't help but comment.

"A deal I broke for the rest of my family." Elijah rejoined smoothly. "The family, that thanks to Mikael's influence, Niklaus always viewed as objects not people. Even Rebekah, who he kept the closest and doted on, he treated more as if she were a prized pet than a sibling." Elijah shook his head. "I had heard the whispers from Rebekah and Kol about his fascination with Caroline, but I assumed it was in much the same regard as our sister. He found her to be entertaining, beguiling, but not that he had any true emotions for her. Even hearing that, at times, he showed her mercy where others would be slaughtered, I assumed that was for some game he would play with her at a later date when he would seek to possess her." Elijah turned and faced Stefan. "You know about Henry, his son with Hayley." It wasn't really a question.

Stefan nodded.

"I had hoped that this would cause him to feel some emotional attachment, but instead Niklaus could barely stand to be around the child. I found him on several occasions in the middle of the night standing in the baby's room staring down at it with a puzzled look as if he couldn't quite understand what it was he was supposed to feel. At that point I completely gave up any hope of ever seeing any humanity in my brother again." Elijah looked at Stefan with confusion and wonder. "I had resigned myself to knowledge that there would come a day where I would have to kill him for the safety of not just our family, but possibly for the entire world." Elijah shook his head and sat down, he studied his hands in his lap. "When Niklaus called us to come here and then explained the reason, I was stunned, but I still didn't believe there was anything more to it than his pride. I figured that something he had laid claim to had been damaged and he needed to repair it for his own ego. Even when he told us outright he loved her, I didn't think he knew what the words meant."

"But now you see." Stefan commented.

Elijah looked at him. "My brother is truly, deeply in love with her. He cares for her so much that the idea that he was the cause of her kidnapping made him throw himself at her mercy. For the first time ever in our entire lives, my brother broke down from emotions. It's unprecedented."

Stefan smiled at Elijah. "I think you were too close to the situation. Your expectations clouded what was there. I spent a good bit of time with Klaus in the 20's and again when he was trying to make his hybrids. I could always see there, the yearning to be loved, to belong. He wanted it so desperately, but didn't know how to express it."

"Yes, but did you really ever think he was capable of loving someone to the point that he would put them before himself? That he would sacrifice himself for them?" Elijah questioned.

"Capable, yes. However, I think he was afraid before. Maybe because of the treatment from your father, he feared rejection. But Klaus has always had the drive and determination to make just about anything happen, so it stands to reason that when he did fall in love and find someone to give his love to that he would do it with a whole heart."

"You know that before the revelation that Marcel was involved with this, he had given up his quest to rule over New Orleans? He said that he didn't think that the violence of that war would be a good atmosphere for Caroline's recovery and he wasn't going to leave her."

"It sounds to me as if you are finally getting everything you ever hoped for your brother, so I'm not seeing the problem here."

Elijah looked at him. "The problem is I feel terrible, both for not realizing that my brother was capable of this and for the fact that I'm…" Elijah paused searching for the words. "Do not mistake me, I would not wish what happened to Caroline on anyone…..but because that happened for the first time ever, my brother has seen what violence breeds. He has fully realized how it destroys people and I think he will be forever changed by this experience, for the better. And part of me is so grateful and relieved for that."

Stefan nodded. "I think it is ok to find some hope in this. I don't know that Caroline will ever fully heal to the point that they will be able to have a true relationship, but I do think that they will have an unbreakable bond that will continue to influence him for the better. I also think that you and Rebekah being here for him through this, even with your doubts will change your relationship with Klaus and make it stronger."

"Actually, going through this has given me a new found respect for all of you. The strength Liz and Matt have shown in these circumstances has been most admirable. Even my sister, who I know at her core was nurturer, seeing how much of herself she has put forth to Caroline's recovery has been amazing. I also see why both my siblings and Caroline hold you in such high regard. You are very observant and insightful."

"Well, thank you. I have to admit it's been nice having someone else who's level headed around." T he two men shared a smile.

"Thank you for listening to me." Elijah said. He stood up and poured them both a drink. He handed a glass to Stefan. "To finding some light and hope in a very dire situation." He held his glass up in a toast.

"To the beginning of healing for all of us." Stefan said.

The two touched glasses and drank in silence.

~.~

Liz and Rebekah didn't even notice Elijah and Stefan had left the room, they sat there quietly while Liz tried to come to grips with what had happened to her baby. Even though she had known and had seen the results, to hear first hand from Caroline how she suffered under her kidnappers, had been horrible for her. Liz had tried so hard to be strong in front of the others through this entire ordeal, but now she found that she couldn't hold it in any longer and had been crying since Caroline had told her tale. The one thing a parent never wants to do is see their child hurt and in pain and it seemed to Liz that she had failed miserably in that goal.

She looked at the seemingly young girl sitting next to her. The young girl who's eyes betrayed centuries of wisdom.

"Will she be all right?" She asked.

"This is actually a good sign." Rebekah told her. "Its like an infection, its finally been lanced and now the poison can start to seep out. We may begin to see more signs of recovery and her coming back to herself."

"But she'll never be who she once was." Liz commented.

Rebekah shook her head. "No, she's seen too much, experienced too much."

Matt came over and sat down. "Will he kill the bastards who did this?" Matt all but demanded.

Rebekah looked over at him. "I'm sure at some point my brother will exact revenge for what they have done, but at this point, I don't think he has any plans to leave her side."

"He really loves her doesn't he?" Liz whispered in awe.

When Caroline had finally come to the part of the tale that spoke of her kidnappers connection to Klaus, Liz had felt nothing but rage. She had managed to forget during this time exactly who he was. His kindness and his attentiveness to her daughter had made her forget that this was the man responsible for killing Carol Lockwood, the man responsible for killing Jenna, for slaughtering twelve hybrids for betraying him. Liz had felt sick that she had given the care for her daughter over to this monster.

When he had all but run out of the room, Liz assumed he was running to avoid facing the retribution, but she wasn't prepared for the way Caroline seemed to take this as a condemnation and folded up into herself. Liz had felt her rage and hate grow. She had hoped that Stefan and Elijah were going after him to kill him for what he had caused to happen to her daughter and she found herself hoping, in those moments, that they would allow her to help.

Rebekah had taken Caroline upstairs, explaining to her that it was going to be ok, but Liz wasn't so sure. She had seen how her daughter had come to depend on him and now she was going to have to face this without him. When Klaus had walked back it, Liz was surprised that Elijah and Stefan had let him return like that, until she looked up into his eyes. It hit Liz right then, how inhuman they all were. No human would be able to stand the pain and grief she saw in his eyes and remain sane. She could see clearly how awful he felt for what had happened and how much he blamed himself. At that moment, all her anger and rage faded away and she felt nothing but pity for him. He knew exactly what he had done and caused to happen and she knew that knowledge was going to haunt him for the rest of his eternal life. Liz had told him where to find her daughter and saw as his pain deepened. She noticed the dagger in his hand, but he had been gone before she had time to process what it meant.

"She is the most important thing in the world to him." Rebekah interrupted her musings. Liz closed her eyes. That fact brought her comfort and fear. From an early age, Caroline had taken in wounded animals and now she had caught the eye of the most dangerous being on the planet. That he would care for and protect her daughter, Liz had no doubt, but god help the world if anything ever happened to her.

She raised her eyes to Matt and knew that he understood how she felt. The two of them were the token humans in this situation and while they were crucial in Caroline's recovery, eventually, Caroline would recover, and the fact was, that as humans, they would be nothing more than a moment in their very long lives. Liz knew that she was going to have to let her daughter go. Already, she was so far removed from the daughter Liz had given birth to, but Liz had to believe that her strength and morals did come from her.

Stefan and Elijah came back into the room and Liz was surprised she hadn't even noticed they were gone.

"It's been quiet up there for a while." Rebekah said. "Should we go check on them?"

"I will." Stefan offered.

She nodded and gave him a smile of thanks. Rebekah looked to her brother. "This changes everything, you realize?"

"I do."

~.~

Upstairs Caroline and Klaus had calmed slightly to the point where neither was sobbing, but both were still crying. Caroline leaned back and released him, only to grab his hands. She stood slowly pulling him with her. He moved without protest, following her lead. She sat down on the bed and pulled him towards her, she released one hand and used it to brush across the bed, the dagger fell to the ground with a thunk. He winced but she didn't pay it any attention. She lay down and moved over to give him room before pulling him down next to her. He rested his head on her shoulder, still sniffling and grabbed her tightly around the waist. She stoked his hair lightly again and they lay there in silence just taking comfort in each other.

She squeezed him tight and then let out a shuddering breath. "Klaus?" She said quietly. He raised his eyes to look at her. At his glance her face crumbled a bit before she got control of herself. "I'm sorry that the girl you loved died, but I don't want to you to sacrifice your life out of some idea of obligation or duty or guilt." He opened his mouth to speak, but she quickly spoke over him. "I won't ever be her again and I don't want to disappoint you. I'm afraid I'll always be broken and damaged. I can't even remember how I used to be the way I was." Tears gathered in her voice and brimmed over again in her eyes. "I will be ok though. I will survive this. I think you should go back to your life. I'll be ok."

He let out something that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a sob.

"What though the radiance which was once so bright  
Be now for ever taken from my sight,  
Though nothing can bring back the hour  
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;  
We will grieve not, rather find  
Strength in what remains behind"  
He recited solemnly to her.

"What was that?" She breathed.

"That's Wordsworth from Intimations of Immortality." He told her. He looked deeply into her eyes. "Caroline, I thought I loved you before, but somehow after all of this I only love you more. I love you for your strength, your resilience. I have nowhere else to be but by your side for as long as you'll have me and it's not out of obligation, its because I love you that I want to be with you, in any capacity. I think you are wonderful and all I want is to make you as happy as I can."

"But I'll never be able to…" She stopped. "It will never be a normal relationship."

"All I want, all I need is to be with you." He told her.

She sniffled loudly and turned her head for a moment. "I can't believe I have any tears left." She said, she looked back towards him.

"I love you." He told her earnestly, tears ran down his own face. "The fact that you can even stand to be around me after what happened…."

"It wasn't your fault." She told him again. He let out a sigh and lay his head back down on her. Caroline had no idea how much time had passed before she felt another presence. She looked up and saw Stefan standing in the doorway. He gave her a smile and she could see the love and compassion in his eyes.

For the first time, since she had been taken, Caroline felt something similar to hope. She found that the overwhelming urge she had to die and leave this existence was gone. She realized that she quite possibly could overcome this, with the help of her family and friends. They loved her and supported her even after everything. She looked back down at the man in her arms. He loved her even though she wasn't the same person she used to be. He said he even admired her for her strength. She lightly kissed the top of his head; she knew he had fallen to sleep a few minutes ago, overwhelmed by an emotional breakdown he had no experience on how to deal with. Maybe, just maybe, it was all going to be ok.

She looked back up at Stefan and offered him a weak watery smile, the first she had in a very long time. Stefan's smile grew and he slowly and quietly shut the door and left them alone. She relaxed her muscles and let herself slowly drift off into sleep, feeling surrounded by safety and love.

**A/N: So this was the first the chapter I wrote for this, way back in September and the rest of the story came up around it. I hope you like it.**

**So, this may be last the chapter and then a brief epilogue. I had one more chapter, but as of right now it isn't fitting well with the rest of the tone of this story. If I can't get it right, I'm just going to leave it out. I don't know. **

**Either way, that you so much for all the messages and reviews. I'm really happy people like this story and feel strongly enough about it to let me know what they think. Also thank you to everyone else who favorite and followed this. Have a great night!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Ok, so I wasn't going to post this. I really think that the story can stand alone as it was and that this kind of went into a different tone and may be detracts from the story. However, a friend convinced me that I really needed to post this, the reasons for this are in the author's note at the end of the chapter.**

**Please note: This does deal with a subject that is extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing for victims of rape. In some ways, it's worse than the violence of the act itself. You have been warned.**

Chapter 10:

Three years later – Tuscany, Italy

"That's not how you set up the jack." Caroline snapped.

"Yes, it is. The car is off the ground isn't it?" Klaus snapped back.

"It's not in the right position; putting it there, it can roll off once you start taking off the lug nuts."

"Caroline, I assure you I have changed plenty of tires and I've never had a problem with the cars rolling off the jack." He told her frustrated.

"I'm telling you it's in the wrong spot." She insisted.

He stood up. "Do you want to change the bloody tire?" He yelled.

"I could do a better job." She yelled back.

"Ok, everybody just calm down." Stefan stepped up.

"There is no need to get this worked up over a tire." Rebekah added in.

It was supposed to be a nice relaxing ride through the countryside, but like almost everything else lately, it had just ended in a screaming match.

"I wouldn't be worked up, if someone would just do it right." Caroline wouldn't let it go.

Klaus through the tire iron down. "Tell me, is there anything I can do right?" He snapped. "You've been bitching about my driving, bitching about my feeding habits, bitching about my clothes even."

"You were driving too fast, you fed off that tourist and left him where anyone could see and it was supposed to be a nice dinner and you wore jeans!" Caroline yelled.

"All right, that its!" Rebekah interrupted. She grabbed Caroline by the arm and started pulling her away from the car, down the street.

"I wasn't driving too fast, I had to drop the tourist there because you were yelling at me so loud there were people on the way and those jeans cost more money than most Italian suits!" Klaus yelled after them.

Before Caroline could yell anything back, Rebekah turned her around and kept marching her forward away from the two men. Finally Caroline gave in and marched along side of her. They heard the sound of breaking glass. Caroline stopped and yelled back. "That's real mature. We won't get our deposit back now!" Rebekah again grabbed her and pulled her along. After a while, they came to a well worn path on the side of the road and Rebekah went down it, knowing Caroline would follow.

"Your brother can be such an ass!" Caroline swore. Rebekah looked at her out of the corner of her eyes.

They had left Mystic Falls at the end of the Summer, a year after Caroline's kidnapping. She had healed enough that she was no longer afraid to leave the house on her own,(although Rebekah was certain she knew Klaus had someone watching her at all times), but she didn't feel comfortable there anymore. She had changed too much and the town had too many ghosts in it for her.

Since then they had been traveling the world, the four of them. Quite honestly, it was the best years of Rebekah's existence. She and Stefan had gotten married a year ago and she viewed Caroline as a sister. Rebekah's relationship with Klaus had also become very close and she loved spending time with all of them. It was also nice to see the world through Caroline's eyes.

Not that there hadn't been hard times. Caroline was still prone to long periods of silence and introspection, that had to led to weeks of depression, they worked hard to bring her out of. There were also times where she had panic attacks or burst into tears for no reason that she could explain or understand.

However, there had also been great strides in her recovery. Rebekah remembered the first time they had seen the return of Caroline's smile, the bright one that lit up her entire face and made her eyes glow. It had been the Winter after they left, they had been in Sweden, in Jukkasjärvi, at the Ice Hotel. They had walked in and were surrounded by sculpted ice, glowing with different colored lights. Caroline had been in awe, completely overwhelmed by the beauty of it. She kept turning in circles to take it all in and she didn't even seem aware as her eyes lit up and a huge smile spread across her face. Rebekah and Stefan had watched in silence and then Rebekah had noticed the look of pure joy spread on her brother's face. He looked as if he just saw a unicorn.

The first time Caroline laughed again, a delighted sound that made her whole body shake; they had been scuba diving in Belize and had a dolphin take a shine to Caroline. It started swimming around her wanting to play, the two had started a game of tag, which ended in the dolphin spitting a stream of water in her face. For an instant Caroline looked shocked and then she giggled, the giggle became laughter. She laughed so hard she almost swallowed some ocean water and Klaus had swam up behind her to grab her around the waist and keep her above while she continued the water battle with the dolphin.

Unfortunately, she was neither laughing nor smiling right now.

"Caroline, sit down. We need to talk." Rebekah said sadly. Caroline looked at her, but came and sat down next to her under one of the trees along the path. For a while, Rebekah didn't say anything, they just sat and admired the Italian countryside and listened to the birds quietly singing in the trees.

"Caroline, what's going on?" Rebekah finally asked.

"What do you mean?" She snapped. "Your brother is an asshole."

"This has been going on for weeks. You are always mad at him and the two of you are always fighting. It's getting to be constant."

Caroline glared at her and turned her head away. "So you are saying this all my fault!"

Rebekah sighed. She decided to try a different approach. "What is the relationship between the two of you?" Rebekah all but demanded.

That took her by surprise. "Relationship?" Caroline turned back, her face was beet red. "What do you mean? We're friends, you know that." She sounded very defensive.

"Friends? Right." Rebekah all but scoffed at her. "Friends who spend every moment together, who can finish each other's sentences, who hold hands and snuggle on the couch, who sleep together every night…" She looked at her sharply. "What are your feelings for my brother?" She asked. "Do you love him?"

"I…uh…I…." Caroline faltered. "I mean, he's always there for me, he makes me feel safe, he's constant, I know he loves me."

"Is that all it is?" Rebekah prodded her.

Caroline suddenly got very nervous. "Rebekah, you know I can't. I just…can't. We're friends, nothing more. We've discussed it. He knows that I can't and he understands."

"You've never even kissed, have you?" Caroline got even more uncomfortable.

"I just can't." She insisted. Rebekah sighed.

Caroline looked away. "

"Caroline, are you sure that these fights the two of you keep having aren't just sexual tension?" She finally just asked straight out.

"Drop it." Caroline snapped. "How many times do I have to tell you? I can't."

Rebekah narrowed her eyes at her. "So you aren't having desirous thoughts about my brother?" God, she didn't want to be having this conversation.

Caroline looked away. "Why won't you let this go?" Suddenly there were tears in her eyes. Rebekah wrapped an arm around her.

"Caroline, its ok." She told her.

"No, its not, dammit." Caroline insisted. "I'm tired of being a basket case." She wiped at her face angrily. "Ok, fine. There may have been some dreams or some thoughts lately." She admitted.

"That's ok." Rebekah assured her.

"NO! Its not." Caroline told her. She stood up and took a few steps away. "I just can't Rebekah." She took several deep breaths. "There's something I never told you. Its bad. I don't like to think about it or remember it."

Rebekah looked at her expectantly. "Caroline, whatever it is, you can tell me. You know I'm not going to judge you."

Caroline didn't say anything, just stared off into the distance. When she did start to talk it was so soft Rebekah struggled to hear even with her superior hearing. "When I was kidnapped, there were times when they were raping me that I had a….reaction." Caroline admitted softly.

"A reaction?" Rebekah was confused.

"Yes, a…." Caroline gestured because there was no way she could ever admit it out loud. Suddenly, it hit Rebekah what she was saying and her eyes widened.

"You had an orgasm?"

"Yes." Caroline cut her off. "I didn't want to and it was awful, but it happened." She started crying in earnest. "That's why I can't… I can't... I can't ever have sex again. I can't even stand the thought of it. All I feel is such shame whenever it comes up. It's like the two are linked in my head now. I hate myself. I'm so disgusted with myself." She sobbed.

Rebekah stood up and walked over to her. She stood right in her line of sight and forced her to meet her eyes. "Caroline, that wasn't because of anything to do with you. It was just your bodies way of trying to escape some of the pain, plus it was a just a biological reaction. It does happen."

"How can something like that just happen?" Caroline turned demanded. "How could my body betray me like that?"

"Look, I read a lot after this happened to you and the best way I read to explain it is like tickling."

"Tickling?" Caroline let out a harsh laugh through her tears. "WHAT?"

"Some people hate to be tickled right. They absolutely hate it, but still, when they are tickled, they laugh despite the fact that they hate it. The body has certain automatic responses to certain physical stimuli. We laugh when we are tickled. It doesn't mean it is a nice experience, or that laughing indicates wanting it. It's just a thing the body does."

She sighed. "That makes sense." She said sadly. "But it doesn't take away the feelings of shame I have. I know I'm being a bitch to Klaus. I know that I'm getting mad at him about things that never bothered me before, but it's like my only protection from feeling all that shame. It's my way of keeping my distance. I'm so confused."

"I'm your friend and I love you and I'm here for you, but this is something only you can figure out."

"I know and I'm trying, but it seems like it's getting worse."

"It is." Rebekah told her. "I know how much my brother means to you, whether you are in love with him or not, and we all know how much you mean to him, but at this point, your relationship is getting toxic. You're hurting him." She told her seriously. "I know you don't want to and I know you don't mean to, but you are hurting him"

"I've been thinking about stepping back, maybe getting my own room, not spending so much time together."

Rebekah looked at her doubtfully. "Unfortunately, the two of you are so close and dependent upon each other, I don't think you could just step back now, if you tried."

"What are you saying Rebekah?" Caroline asked alarmed.

"I'm saying you need to find a way to come to terms with this." Rebekah said again.

"Or I should leave." Caroline finished her thought. Leave Klaus. Her brain didn't seem to want to process the thought.

"You don't have to leave." Rebekah reminded her. "You can find a way to come to terms with this, if anyone can, you can." She tried to be upbeat. "You need to figure out your feelings for him." Rebekah sighed. "If it is just a codependency, then maybe you need to take a few steps back." She told her hesitantly. Rebekah really believed that Caroline loved her brother, but she didn't think the other girl realized it because of all the other feelings that were confusing the issue. "If you do love him, then try to forgive yourself, understand that what happened wasn't your fault. It didn't make it any less rape. And you may find that your memories of this have clouded everything so much, that if you allowed yourself to feel desire again, it may not be anything similar to this experience."

"Rebekah, I can't. I just can't do that. I can't let myself go. You just don't understand."

Rebekah stared off. She didn't understand, no one could, except someone who went through something like what Caroline had. Rebekah wanted to believe that true love could conquer all, but this was the real world and sometimes violence won over love.

To be fair, despite her determination to overcome what had happened, Caroline had stated almost from the beginning, as soon as she was able, that she would never again be able to have a physical relationship.

"Well, maybe you can find another way to deal with the feelings you are having." Rebekah suggested, but she knew that wouldn't be possible either. "Take a few days to think about it."

"Yeah." Caroline agreed distantly. Rebekah knew the girl had already made up her mind though. It looked like the best years were going to be behind her soon.

~.~

The girls walked down the hill and Klaus grabbed the tire iron and threw it against the driver's side window, smashing it to pieces. Stefan sighed.

From down the hill they heard Caroline's voice yell back. "That's real mature. We won't get our deposit back now!"

Klaus' anger drained away and he slumped against the car. "I just can't win." He muttered.

"You know this isn't your fault, right?" Stefan asked him. Klaus just shrugged. "She's been attacking you for weeks now."

Klaus sighed. "I know. At first I refused to fight back with her, but then she accused me of treating her differently because she was weak and a victim. So I started fighting back, but that didn't seem to help either."

"We've seen." Stefan commented dryly. "Any idea what's behind it?" He asked.

"Maybe she's finally starting to blame me as she should." Klaus said.

"I don't think that's it." Stefan looked at him for a minute. "Maybe you two need to take a break from each other for a while. Maybe you are just too close and getting under each other's skin."

"You want me to leave her?" Klaus asked incredulously. "No. Never."

Now it was Stefan's turn to sigh. "Look, I know you don't want to leave her side, but if this keeps going, you may wind up hating each other."

"I could never hate her and if she decides she hates me, it's only because I probably deserve it."

"That's what I'm talking about." Stefan insisted. "Thinking like that isn't healthy. You have done so much for her, given up so much for her, but at some point you need to think about yourself."

"I do!" Klaus snapped.

"Really?" Stefan asked. "I love Caroline and I do hate what happened to her, but that doesn't change the fact that she's being a bitch to you. There may be reasons behind it and there may be some cause, but she's still being a bitch and unless she wants to tell you what those reasons are, she's wrong for treating you like this and you need to realize it."

"And what is it you propose I do?" Klaus asked. "I'm fighting her back."

"Yeah, because she wants you to." Stefan stated. "Tell her she's being a bitch and walk away. Leave the house, go out, get away from it." He looked at him. "What is happening here is the classic definition of a codependent relationship. You are making this relationship more important to you than you are to yourself,"

"That's not true." Klaus said defensively.

"That's not what it looks like." Stefan had been right when he had said that when Klaus finally admitted he loved someone and let them into his heart, he did it with everything he had. Stefan knew the hybrid would do anything, give anything for Caroline. Unfortunately, in doing that he was enabling this new behavior she had developed. "Klaus, you know Caroline, this isn't her and by playing into it you may be doing her more harm than good." Stefan studied him. "You also need to be willing to walk away. For her benefit and for your own. Sometimes the willingness to leave will set thing straight. You can be in love with someone and still take care of yourself." Stefan finished.

Klaus stared off into the distance. He didn't respond to Stefan for a long time.

By the time the girls came back everyone was extremely subdued. There was a new rental car waiting for them and they all headed back to the villa they were staying in, not a word was said the entire way back.

~.~

The next morning, after a night of very little sleep, Caroline got up and went for a walk around the country side trying to do some thinking. The problem was that everything in her brain was so jumbled. She knew she cared about Klaus, but she couldn't be certain that her feelings went beyond friendship and gratitude. Add in to that her new feelings and her reactive, bitchy moods, Rebekah was right, this was getting toxic. She didn't want to hurt him, not after everything he had done for her. At this point, she was taking advantage of his feelings for her and making him a punching bag when he didn't understand or deserve it.

She realized that she had no other choice, but to leave. She couldn't stay here knowing she was hurting him, not for her own comfort. Decision made she headed slowly back to the villa with fear and dread inside of her.

When she got back she noticed immediately that the car was gone. She went inside and found Klaus reading on the sofa. She looked at him questioningly.

"Rebekah and Stefan headed into town for a wine festival. They said they'd be back tomorrow." He told her.

"Oh." She said. She had been hoping for Rebekah's support with this, now she felt alone and her fear went up a notch.

"Are you ok?" He asked studying her.

She debated for a few minutes. She could wait until the others came back. Avoid the issue until they returned, but somehow that seemed so cowardly. She needed to face what was going on.

"Not really." She admitted. She sat down in a chair across from him. He put down his book and gave her his undivided attention.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently. Even after how she had been acting, he still wasn't able to stay mad at her, that knowledge made her feel worse.

"I'm sorry I've been such a bitch lately." She said finally. "I've been…." She stuttered, uncertain what to say. "going through some stuff lately and I have been taking it out on you." She finished lamely.

Klaus sighed. "I don't know that I've been handling it properly either." He said.

"The thing is," Caroline said. "I think that enough time has gone by and that I'm ok enough with everything, that maybe I should leave, go off on my own."

Klaus' eyes widened and he felt like he had been punched in the stomach.

Caroline wouldn't meet his eyes, she just stared at the floor, but she continued speaking. "I mean, I appreciate everything you've done and all, but maybe it's time I went out on my own for a while." She finally looked up and gave him a weak, slightly sick smile. "It's not like I can use you for a security blanket for the rest of existence."

Her words hit him and he swallowed. He knew that it was probably too much to expect for her to ever feel for him the way he did for her, but to hear her state he was just a security blanket, hurt. He felt like she was cutting his heart out. He wanted to argue with her, insist she stay, and tell her it wasn't safe for her out there alone in the world, but then his conversation with Stefan came back to him. Was he doing her more harm than good? Had their relationship just become toxic and codependent?

He closed his eyes. Maybe the way to fixing it wasn't just a willingness to leave, but a willingness to let go.

"If you feel that is best," his voice came out hollow. "Then you should go. I don't want you to stay if you are unhappy."

Caroline felt tears well up in her eyes at his words. This was real. She was leaving. He was going to let her go.

"It's not that I'm unhappy." She felt the need to explain. "It's just the way things have gotten, maybe a little space would be a good thing."

He didn't look at her, but she could see the pain in his eyes. He nodded, but didn't say anything. Caroline sat there for a few more minutes, but didn't know what to say to make anything better for either of them. Finally she stood up and walked to the bedroom; if she was going to do this she should start packing.

She looked around the room she entered and her tears poured over her eyelids and down her face. She sat down on the bed and looked around the room. She was going to do this, she was going to leave. She ran her fingers across the book next to the bed. He was reading Dante's Inferno to her at night when they went to bed. She fell asleep every night listening to his accented voice, she was going to miss that so much.

She pulled out a suitcase and started opening drawers to put her clothes in. As she opened one drawer she found the box with the dried flowers he had given her. It seemed wherever they went he would pick her at least one wild flower and unable to watch them wilt and die, she started drying them and put them in a cedar box she had gotten on their travels. He was always surprising her with simple gestures like that. She swallowed and put the box carefully in her suitcase, along with the contents of the drawer.

She opened another drawer and found the dress she had worn at her last birthday. Rebekah had decided that since Caroline had lost the war over the decade dance, they would have a 70's themed party for her. Caroline smiled at the memory of both Klaus and Stefan's grumbling but finally consenting to dress accordingly. They had danced the entire night and it had been a wonderful time. She and Klaus actually did make great dance partners. Caroline sat on the bed staring off, lost in her memories.

She noticed one of his shirts lying on the bed and picked it up and inhaled his scent. That would be something else she missed about him.

She put down the shirt suddenly as realization struck her. She wasn't upset because she was afraid to go out on her own. She was upset because she was leaving him. She was going to miss him. There would be no more long conversations, no more smiles just for her, no more reading to her in bed, no more silliness just to get her to laugh. The idea of it made her feel awful.

She stood up and walked back into the living room. Klaus was no longer on the sofa; instead he was staring blankly out the window. She looked at him and knew suddenly, just knew in her heart, she couldn't leave.

"I can't do it." She said into the room.

He turned and looked at her. He looked so sad, but also confused by her statement. "Can't do what?" He asked.

"I can't leave." She stated. "I can't leave you." She clarified. She crossed the room and looked up at him. His face was such a twist of hope and misery. "I love you." She told him. "I am in love with you." She took a deep breath and let out a small laugh. "It's not just some codependency. It's not just because you make me feel safe and secure, it's because I love you. I love the time we spend together, I don't want to leave. I want to try and do this. I want to try and be a real couple."

He looked at her amazed. Only Caroline could do this to him. Only she could take him from absolute despair to elation in a few moments, but he still needed to be sure.

"Caroline, are you certain?" He asked her.

She laughed again. "Yes! Yes, I'm certain. I went in there to pack and all I could think about were all the things I'd miss about you. I wasn't afraid to leave, to be on my own, but the thought of not being with you was breaking my heart."

He grabbed her and held her tight. "I don't want to leave." She said again. "I want to stay with you, if you'll let me."

He pulled back. "Of course I'll let you." He still held her hands.

She looked away for a second. "I still don't think I'm ready for…"

"I'd never pressure you." He assured her.

"No, you wouldn't, would you?" She said. She looked deep into his eyes for a minute, then leaned up and gently pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back lightly, but took her lead and didn't press into it. After several seconds she pulled back and smiled at him. She stroked his forehead lightly.

He closed his eyes at her touch, but opened them again quickly; wanting to bask in the look she was giving him.

"Wanna go for a walk with me?" She asked.

"Would that be our first 'date' then?" He said with a smile.

"It sounds like a nice one."

"I'd love to." He told her.

She laced her fingers through his as they went outside and glanced down at the entwined hands. She felt a spark of something. It wasn't desire or anything that heavy, it was just excitement, pleasure at the simple contact. She squeezed his hand and felt him squeeze back lightly. She realized that eventually she would be able to overcome the last lingering shadow. With Klaus beside her and his love, she trusted him enough that eventually she could let go and they could have a normal physical relationship. She looked up into his warm eyes. Even if she couldn't, he would still love her and stay with her and that fact made her even more certain that she would be able to cross that bridge eventually.

"I still say you drive too fast." She told him with a laugh as they headed down the driveway.

"Sweetheart, we're in Italy, if I don't drive that fast, they will run us over." He told her, he stopped and looked at her. "You are seriously never going to cut me any slack are you, Miss Forbes?" He asked her.

She gave him a smile and walked ahead of him. "Someone needs to keep your ego under control."

He reached out for her waist and tickled her lightly. She let out peals of laughter. She found she didn't hate it.

**A/N 2: I decided to post this for two reasons. **

**One: I wanted to address the issue of dependency, if someone becomes a 'savior' and protector to a victim, how do they know when their feelings are real or just security and gratefulness. **

**Two (and this is also the reason why I was very hesitant to post this): I spent a few years when younger, living on the streets in New Orleans. While there I encountered girls who were victims/survivors of rape. I can remember conversations about some of their experiences. I remember the biggest cause of shame and trauma came from the fact that at some point during their abuse they had an orgasm. It was something that made them doubt themselves and their entire view on sex. I did some reading on the subject while writing this story, I found that while it may not be a common occurrence, for many survivors it can be the hardest thing to come to terms with. It is also something that is very rarely talked about even with therapists. To that end, there isn't any conclusive evidence on how much it occurs.**

**I don't know if I did either topic justice and despite my friend's advice I'll defer to the readers. If you think it's done poorly or detracts, I'll remove this chapter and just post the Epilogue tomorrow.**

**I stand by my statement that this is a work of fiction and I don't mean for it to be a PSA, but a close friend of mine convinced me to include this chapter simply for the fact that it is rarely discussed and very rarely reported due to the shame associated with it. As I stated in the beginning, if anyone has experienced any sort of trauma like this, please seek help. As I found, there are many places you can go for support and many of them allow you to be anonymous. **

**As always, thank you for reading, for the nice comments, favorites and follows. **


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue:

New Orleans – Spring 2019

"All right, where are we with the collections?" Marcel asked. He sat in his office with his second in command and lieutenants.

"Everyone is paid up for this month." Thierry told him. "You do have that meeting with the mayor next week to discuss and increase in 'donations'."

Marcel smiled. "I don't see that being a problem. He won't forget who put him in office in the first place." He sat up. "Ok, well, we have a big night tonight, so we should go get set up for that."

Everyone looked around confused.

"What?" He asked.

"The place is rented out tonight." Thierry told him.

"Rented out? What do you mean? We don't rent out our space. We've never rented out our space."

They all looked confused.

"But it's rented tonight." Thierry insisted.

"WHO rented it?" Marcel demanded. "And WHO ok'd this?"

Again they all just looked confused. Marcel stood up getting frustrated. "What the hell is going on here?!" He demanded.

"Oh Marcel, calm down." Rebekah said as she walked into the room as if she owned it. "Surely you can spare the space for just one evening."

"Rebekah?" Marcel was shocked and looked slightly alarmed before a large smile was plastered over his face. "What are you doing here? I didn't know you were in town."

Rebekah just smiled at him. Her smile had a tinge of….something to it. Marcel came around the desk and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"You are looking good." He commented. "If I had known you needed to throw a party tonight it wouldn't have been a problem, but last minute like this…." He looked back at his people and realized they had obviously been compelled.

"Marcel, you won't begrudge us a wedding celebration, will you?" She said almost pouting.

"You got married?" Marcel laughed. "Of course not! Congratulations!"

"Oh. Yes, I got married, but the celebration isn't for me." She looked behind her. "Have you ever met Stefan?" At that Stefan walked into the room, with a slight smile.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure." Marcel stuck out his hand to greet Stefan. "It's great to meet you, man. Anyone who could capture Rebekah's heart has got to be a great guy."

"You always were so good with the flattery, weren't you?" Rebekah said. "Let me show you how I want everything set up."

She turned and motioned with her hand for Marcel to follow. He looked back at his men. "Guys?" He said when they didn't move.

"Don't worry, they can stay here." Rebekah said meaningfully. "We won't need their help for this."

Marcel started to look very worried before pushing the smile back over his face. He swallowed and then followed Rebekah out, very aware of Stefan behind him.

"It's going to be classic and tasteful, not one of your techno blood baths." She wrinkled her nose. "Did you get that from the movie Blade or something?" She continued on as they walked down the steps to the open courtyard. "I've hired a jazz band, and there will be a caterer."

"Rebekah, I'm not really comfortable, with you taking over my house like this." Marcel tried to say.

"Your house?" A voice came from across the room and Elijah stepped out. "I seem to remember it started as our house, once upon a time."

Marcel's fake smile started to look a little sick. "Elijah! Wow! You're in town too. That's great." His tone indicated it was anything but great. Marcel paused. "So wait, is the wedding for you? You tied the knot?"

"Actually, yes I did. Several years ago, in fact." Elijah smiled at him. "You remember Hayley, the werewolf who was staying with us?"

"The one who was carrying Klaus' baby?" Marcel forced a laugh. "Keeping it in the family, I see." Elijah's smile tightened and his eyes narrowed at the joke. "Sorry, probably in poor taste." Marcel looked at the three of them; they seemed to be surrounding him. He was getting very nervous. "So who is this wedding celebration for?" He asked.

"Why for me, of course." Klaus' voice rang out. Marcel closed his eyes and forced himself to remain calm and not panic, even though he was aware the three surrounding him could see it plainly.

"Klaus!" His voice was way too bright with forced cheeriness. "You're back!" He let himself force out a chuckle. "Not going to start another war are you?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"No, I'm not here to start a war." Klaus stood at the entrance. "I'm actually not here for any bloodshed, at all."

Marcel let out a sigh of relief and his smile got a bit more relaxed. "You're getting married? I would never have guessed that in a thousand years. Who's the lucky lady?"

"Why you've already met her." Klaus said, with a mocking look to his eyes. He looked behind him and Caroline walked calmly into the room.

"Hello Marcel." She said.

Marcel turned a sickly shade of grey and lost any hope of a smile fake or otherwise. There was no mistaking the panicked look or the guilt on his face.

"Klaus, man, it was a war. I was fighting for my home, my people."

"I understand." Klaus said walking further into the room with Caroline by his side.

"No, we didn't know what else to do. I had responsibilities. I needed a way to make the war stop." The five vampires were circling him now like sharks, while he gasped. "Davina, she said that this would stop the killing. One life for so many."

"Ah yes, Davina." Klaus smiled. "Unfortunately, she has had her powers stripped and will be going off with a rather powerful coven to face crimes against her own kind."

"What?" Marcel spun around trying to keep his eyes on everyone at once. He looked desperately to his office, but knew if they were compelled, there was no way his men could be any help to him.

"Personally, I wanted to make Davina suffer the way Caroline suffered. I wanted to make you bleed the way she bled." Klaus gave an exaggerated sigh. "But my wife is a soft hearted creature, even after your treatment of her. She came up with a much better idea for you. I must admit, it took a while to come together, but what is that expression? Oh yes, 'revenge is a dish best served cold'?" His smile got very predatory. "Sweetheart, would you like to do the honors?"

Caroline had remained calm through all of this, she just watched Marcel with a critical eye, but no other emotion on her face.

"You took my sense of self." She stated to him.

"I'm so sorry…" He interrupted. She narrowed her eyes and he quickly went silent.

"You destroyed my innocence." She said matter of factly. She tilted her head at him. "Do you know what a Hunter is?" She asked.

Marcel didn't answer; he just looked around frantically, hoping for an escape. Klaus barely had to move to slap him across the face to get his attention.

Caroline shot Klaus a look. "I didn't draw any blood. I just smacked him like the bitch he is." He stated. "You have his attention now."

Marcel focused on Caroline, but she doubted he was paying attention to anything but his fear. "Do you know what a Hunter is?" She repeated to him slowly.

"I've heard the tales." Marcel was almost yelling with the panic in his voice. "That's it? You'll send a Hunter after me, so you don't have to get your hands dirty?"

Caroline let out a light laugh. "You sent minions after me, so you wouldn't have to get your hands dirty." She reminded him. "But no, we aren't going to kill you." She smiled. "Do you know what the Hunter's Curse is?" She asked.

Marcel looked at Klaus with a glare. "Madness." He said.

"Pretty much. Madness and despair." She came closer to him. Klaus watched carefully to make sure Marcel didn't make any sudden moves towards her. "It took quite a while, but we found some witches who could replicate the Hunter's Curse." She smiled at him coldly and then pulled out her hand and blew some dust directly into his face. Surprised by the move, Marcel breathed in. He tried to cough it out but it was everywhere, his nose, his mouth, his eyes. He stumbled back wiping at his face. Caroline studied him. "It will take effect soon." She walked over to Klaus and he put his arm around her.

Marcel looked up at her, his eyes running from fear or the dust. It wasn't certain. "Please." He begged.

"Normally, the Hunter's Curse serves to make its victims kill themselves, but we don't want that for you. I've heard you have a place called 'The Garden'?" Caroline continued. Marcel's men walked down the stairs, obviously still compelled. "You will be interred there, perfectly safe, well cared for, and able to live a long life lost in the madness."

Marcel's men grabbed him by the arms and started putting chains on this.

"KLAUS!" Marcel shouted. "Don't do this. Please, don't do this. It was war! You would have done the same thing!"

For the first time, Caroline's voice took on an emotion, one of disgust and hatred. "No, he wouldn't." She said flatly. "Take him away." She ordered. They drug Marcel out, he screamed and begged the entire way out of the building.

"Are you all right?" Klaus whispered to her. She looked up at him with a soft smile.

"Yeah. I came to terms with what happened a while ago. This was just the final piece."

He nodded and looked to his brother. "Congratulations Elijah, you've just acquired a kingdom."

Elijah sighed. "Actually, I think I just acquired a lot of work."

Klaus smirked. "Marcel's kingdom practically ran itself. You are the one who is listening to his wife and trying to draw up treaties and peace between the witches, vampires and werewolves."

"She is right. There is no need for us to be at odds anymore. We'd do better to have a united front and someone in my position can set the precedence for this country and maybe other places in the world."

"Blah, blah, blah." Rebekah said. "Enough with the politics. We have a party to get ready for." She looked at Stefan. "You are picking up Liz and Matt at the airport, right?"

"Yup." Stefan agreed. "Their plane lands in about an hour."

"Well, then you need to get going. Traffic at this time of day will be horrible around Causeway." She ordered before looking at Caroline. "I need you to help get the rest of this set up."

Klaus wrapped his other arm around Caroline's waist and pulled her against him. "Rebekah, are you trying to steal my wife away from me?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Please, you two had a six week long honeymoon. Aren't you sick of each other yet?"

Caroline giggled. "Not even close."

"Like bloody rabbits." Rebekah muttered, but her eyes were twinkling with amusement. "Fine, go off you two, but don't blame me if we have lilacs in the floral display instead of lavender."

Caroline's eyes widened. She glanced up at Klaus. "Um, maybe I should stick around for a bit and just help her with the details." Her OCD would not let her just relax and let Rebekah handle this, especially with a threat like that.

Klaus sighed. "Barely married and you are already running off with my sister to plan parties. I'm feeling extremely unloved and neglected right now." He fake pouted. Caroline smiled up at him and kissed him deeply. Rebekah made gagging noises in the background.

"To be continued later." Caroline whispered to him. She pulled away from Klaus and glared at Rebekah. "Would you grow up?"

"No." The Original girl told her before pulling her away, going on about decorations and floral arrangements.

Elijah and Stefan walked over to Klaus and they watched the two women walk away. "You sure you have no interest in being king?" Elijah asked.

"No." Klaus answered. "I have everything I need."

The three men shared a smile.

**A/N: Wow, um, I have no words for all the reviews for the last chapter. I'm completely humbled and in awe. Thank you so much for all of your kind words and support. I'm just in total shock right now. Anyway, here is the Epilogue. Some people wanted more to this story and I am sorry they will be disappointed, but to me it feels like a logical conclusion. Also this story had kind of been an obsession for me and trying to get inside it has had me neglecting a lot of things in my life. I need a break.**

**I hope the revenge against Marcel was adequate. I really didn't think more violence was going to be the answer that he needed a much more psychological punishment to fit the crime. I also know some people were looking for some emotional sex scene but that just didn't feel right. I alluded to their sex life, anything else just kind of felt gratuitous in this story. I hope you understand.**

**I can't take credit for the analogy in the last chapter about the 'tickling'. That came from a forum I was directed to online. I want to give a shout out to my friend who convinced me to post the last chapter. She spent many years as a rape counselor and she has helped me so much with research and writing this.**

**Right now, I don't have any plans for any other stories. I know I was supposed to be working on a sequel to Selective Memory when I started this. That still may happen, but for right now, I've got nothing. Plus, I don't know that anything will be able to compare to what this was.**

**Anyway, this is it. For everyone who has read and reviewed and followed and favorited, thank you so much. I really appreciated every comment and the time people took to read this. Thank you.**


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